


Just another distraction

by One_Lone_Witch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Danger, F/M, Romance, Unknown Past
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:20:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 36,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27620590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Lone_Witch/pseuds/One_Lone_Witch
Summary: Ember is one of the most promising Gryffindors, at least until she meets Draco Malfoy. Because she's an orphan and no one knows her background she gets bullied by him a lot. After four years of his pestering something happens that could change both lives forever.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. A mysterious letter

I am just having a beautiful dream when someone starts shaking me.

"Ember, Ember!" they start screaming in my ear.

I grumble and push them off me. "What's wrong?" I ask grumpily as I open my eyes.

Two little girls are sitting in front of me, dressed in identical plain, grey dresses.

One girl, Alicia, has blond curls that reach her shoulders, a round face, and deep, green eyes. The other girl, Mandy, has dark brown hair, an oval face, and pale blue eyes. Looking at them you wouldn't know they were twins, but they really are.

I look up at the clock, it's ten am already. When I realize how late it is, I jump out of bed and start putting on a dress similar to the girls'.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?" I ask the girls angrily as I start brushing and braiding my hair, though due to the rush, it just ends up looking like a mess.

“We wanted to surprise you on your birthday by letting you sleep in and doing some chores for you," Alicia says with a small voice.

I stop brushing for a moment and turn to the girls. "You mean, you didn't only do your own chores but mine too? Just because it's my birthday?"

"It wasn't just us," Mandy joins in. "All girls helped. It's our way of saying thanks for all you did for us."

I walk over to the two girls and hug them. "Thank you girls, that really means a lot to me."

"And what about us?" I hear someone say from behind me. I turn around and see a group of about twenty girls in our shared bedroom. "We helped too, you know," a small twelve-year-old, Daisy, says.

I smile and say, "I know, and thank you guys so much, this is the best birthday present ever."

All the girls run to me and we do some kind of group hug until we hear a woman shout from downstairs. "Girls come down here, immediately. There's work that must be done."

Reluctantly, we all pull away. "Thanks again, you guys," I say as they all start leaving the room.

One of the older girls, Melissa, stays behind and pushes me in a chair as she starts undoing my hair, turning it into two buns at the side of my head. "It was our pleasure," she tells me. "It's not every day you turn eleven. It means you're now one of us, the oldest, just a few more years and you're out of here."

I smile, I can't wait to get out of this place. Some people call it an orphanage but we call it hell. If you’ve ever heard of the movie 'Annie' you know what it's like here.

"All done," Melissa says as she finishes with my hair.

"Thanks, Lissy," I start to say, but then we hear something tapping the window. As we walk over to the small, greasy window, we're surprised to see a big brown owl sitting on the window frame with an envelope in its talons.

Melissa slowly stretches out her hand to take it, but as she gets near the owl, it pecks her and she quickly pulls her hand back. "What does it want?" she asks, eyeing the owl while cradling her hand against her chest while waving at the animal with her other. “Shoo, you stupid bird.”

The owl hoots once while looking at me and now it's my turn to reach for the envelope. Other than with Melissa, the owl doesn't peck me. He even lets me pet him before I take the envelope from him. When I hold the envelope in my hand, he flies away instantly.

"How'd you do that?" Melissa asks me.

"I don't know," I tell her. "I just acted on instinct, I guess."

Melissa looks at the envelope. "Who do you think it's for?" she asks. "And what's that seal supposed to mean? I've never seen anything like that before."

"First things first," I say, turning the envelope around. "Let's see who it's addressed to."

Just as we look at the envelope to see who it's for that annoying woman shouts again. "Ember, Melissa, if you don't get your butts down here this instant and go to work, you're going up without supper tonight."

We look at each other and before we walk downstairs I quickly stuff the mysterious envelope under my pillow ready to be read as soon as we get back.

************************************

A few hours later after a scarce dinner, all the girls have gathered around my bed, aching to see who the mystery envelope belongs to.

"Okay," I say when everyone is quiet. "No matter who it's for or who it's from, we're not going to be nasty or hateful towards them, got it?"

A chorus of 'yes' comes my way.

"Okay, here we go." 

The faint moonlight shines on the envelope as I start reading,

_ To miss Ember, _ _  
_ _ The third bed from the window _ __  
_ 80, Foster lane _ _  
_ __ London

I look up from the envelope and see everyone waiting expectantly to see what's inside. "Open it already," Daisy tells me.

With shaking hands, I open the envelope, inside which I find a letter. As I fold it open I start reading it out loud.

_ Dear miss Ember, _

_ We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. _

_ Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. _

_ Yours sincerely, _

_ Minerva McGonagall _

As I finish reading, all the girls start laughing. "You almost got us," Melissa says, between hiccups. "What does it really say?"

I just sit on my bed looking flabbergasted. "This is what it says, really."

I hardly see Daisy come up to me when she snatches the letter away from me. "Give it back." I try taking it back but she easily jumps out of my reach as she starts reading the letter. As her smile falls away, so do most of the others.

"She wasn't kidding," Daisy says, looking a bit washed out.

"It must be some kind of sick joke," one of the younger girls says.

"No, it's not," Katy, the oldest in the group, says. "Do any of you remember Grace?" Some of the older girls nod, while the rest of us look at each other. "Grace used to live here before she left about five years ago, so it makes sense that some of you don't know or remember her. When she was eleven, she got a letter just like that. And after a lot of begging, she got to go to Hogwarts, where they taught her to be a witch. Every year she'd live at that school and come back during the summer holiday. She used to bring back all kinds of candy, I remember my favorite being chocolate frogs."

"So you mean, I'm a witch?" I ask Katy, dreading the answer.

"I do think so," she tells me. "It does explain your 'gift'." She says, meaning the fact that whenever a family comes to adopt one of us, they always choose the girl they first set eyes on  _ after _ me.

I look at the letter again. "Do you think I should go?" I ask no one in particular. Still, everyone says the same thing, yes.

I look up to the girls, my family, I will miss them when I'm at school, but  _ this _ is my way out of here and no one can stop me from taking it with both hands.


	2. How to get away for shopping

I really wish school would begin again but it won’t start for another month. This year will be my fifth year at Hogwarts and I’m really looking forward to it. 

In the letter McGonagall sent me, I was told that I am one of the new prefects. I immediately sent my owl, Nyx, back to thank her.

Nyx is an owl who had been living here at the orphanage for as long as I can remember, so when I found out in my first year that I could have a pet, it was an easy choice. I’ve always been the only one who could come near her without losing any body parts. She’s black as night with beautiful near-white eyes. With her white spots, she looks like a night sky full of stars, that’s why I call her Nyx, after the Greek goddess of the night.

In my first year, I thought it would be easy to get my supplies, just let the orphanage pay for my stuff and be done with it. I was so wrong.

They make me pay for everything myself, my books, my robes, everything. That’s why I’m now working two jobs every summer, to pay for all my stuff. At the moment, I work at a muggle store just around the corner and also at an owlery at Diagon Alley. I don’t earn much, but it’s enough to get my supplies and still have a little money left to spend at Hogsmeade. 

Usually, I go shopping for school together with my friends Fred and George Weasley, two sixth year Gryffindors, but this year I’m going to get my school books together with Nathan and Celeste Murik. They’re fifth-year Gryffindors like me and they’re twins. They both have dark brown hair and warm black/brown eyes. While Nathan has short spikes, Celeste has hair that reaches her lower back. The only other difference between them besides their gender is the fact that Celeste has freckles while Nathan doesn’t. 

We’ve decided to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow so I made sure that Mandy and Alicia, who see themselves as my personal assistants, keep Miss Cole, our ‘legal guardian’, distracted. She’s very strict and doesn’t like it when we wander out of the orphanage without her approval. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Mandy asks me just before lights out. 

“Yeah, just stick to the plan,” I tell her. “It’s worked every time up to this point, right?”

“But it almost went wrong last time,” Alicia reminds me. “She almost caught you sneaking back. It was thanks to Daisy that you got away with it.”

“I know but how else am I going to get my stuff? I mean, she won’t let me go out, only if I have to work.”

“Can’t we make up a new plan?” Mandy asks. “Switch it up a bit, so she won’t suspect.”

I think about it for a second. “Maybe you’re right. It can’t hurt to do something different for once. But we have to be careful, if she finds out, I’m not the only one in trouble, we all are. Even the girls that don’t know about our plan.”

“Shut up and lights out!” Miss Cole shouts from downstairs.

I get out of bed and switch off the lights. “Good night girls,” I call out to everyone. As everyone tells each other goodnight I walk back to my bed.

As I climb back in bed I whisper, “we’ll finish this in the morning.”

Not soon after I fall asleep.

********************************************************

The next morning I wake up as the first few rays of sunlight shine through the small window. Softly as to not wake any of the other girls I start dressing in my grey dress while I stuff some ‘normal’ clothes in a small duffle bag which I keep hidden under my bed. After that, I wake up Mandy and Alicia.

“Wake up,” I tell them. 

“What time is it?” Mandy asks, yawning.

“Early,” is all I say.

“Ten more minutes,” Alicia says as she turns around and keeps on sleeping.

“I didn’t think so,” I say as I walk over to her and grab the glass of water that always stands next to her bed. Without another thought, I pour it over her and quickly cover her mouth to stop her from screaming.

“What the hell,” she yell-whispers. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m just waking you up,” I say innocently. “Now come on, we’ve got to make a plan before everyone else wakes up.”

Grumbling the twins get up and get dressed. Within five minutes we’re sitting together on my bed and, as a few hours later the other girls start waking up, we’ve perfected our plan.

“Now we just gotta hope this works,” I say.

As Miss Cole calls everyone down for breakfast I grab a small bag with some floo powder I got from Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George’s mom. 

“Let’s do this after breakfast,” I tell them as we follow the other girls downstairs.

As we all finish eating and are sent to do our chores, Mandy, Alicia, and I run towards the library, a small room at the back of the orphanage and also the only place here with a fireplace, after a little detour to get my bag. 

“Make sure Miss Cole doesn’t come here,” I tell the girls. “I’ll be back at four tops, so until then-“

“Give her as much trouble as we can,” Alicia finishes. “We know, we helped make the plan, remember.”

I hug them both. “See you later.”

“Alligator,” the two girls say at the same time, making us all giggle. 

I throw my bag over my shoulder and take out some floo powder. As I throw it in the flames I say, “the Leaky Cauldron.”

I step in the now green flames and not soon after I am surrounded by flames, but I don’t get burned. Suddenly I’m thrown out of a fireplace and as I look around me I’m pleased to see that I’m inside the Leaky Cauldron.

I quickly go to the toilets where I change into a light blue T-shirt and black jeans. Then I walk to the back of the pub and get out my wand, a hazelwood one with a dragon heartstring core. As I tap the wall outside, it transforms into an archway leading right onto Diagon Alley. I walk further and hear the archway close behind me.

“Ember!” someone calls from my right.

I look around and spot two familiar faces. “Celeste, Nathan!” I call out, while I run to them.

“We were wondering when you’d show up,” Celeste says after we’re done hugging.

“I got a little held up,” I tell them as we walk to ‘Madam Malkin’s Robes for all Occasions’ to get our uniforms fixed. Or, better said, to get Celeste and Nathan’s uniforms fixed. I fix my own, that way I can use my money otherwise.

As we walk towards the shop we start talking about everything that is going on in the Wizarding World.

“The finale of the Quidditch World cup is coming up!” Nathan exclaims as we walk.

“Dad got some awesome tickets near the Top box!” Celeste says, equally excited. “We’ve got an extra ticket if you want to join?”

I laugh at their enthusiasm. “I can’t. I’m already risking a lot by being here. And besides, you know I’m not really that into sports.”

As we walk into the store, Nathan says, “how can you  _ not _ love Quidditch? It’s the best sport in the world.”

They put on their uniforms and step on some platforms to let madam Malkin and her girls work on them. I just take a seat on a sofa near them.

“I just don’t get why you would watch people do something when you can just go out and do it yourself.”

“It’s about the feeling you get when your team wins, the feeling you get when the whole stadium is cheering with you,” Nathan says.

“It’s about being one with all the people you usually wouldn’t give as much as a backward glance,” Celeste adds. “It’s about something more than just you.”

I laugh. “Okay, I get it. But still, I’d rather play a sport than watch other people play.” 

We keep talking about the World Cup for some time and after they paid for their uniforms we decide to go to ‘Florean Fortescue’s Ice cream parlour’ where we all buy a big ice cream before sitting down at one of the tables outside. 

“Ember,” Nathan begins. “We know your birthday was a few weeks ago-“

“-And we know you told us not to give you anything,” Celeste continues. “But we couldn’t resist.”

“So we got you this,” Nathan says, handing me a small package.

“Thanks,” I say. “But you really sh-“

“Don’t say that,” Celeste interrupts me. “You deserve it.”

I smile at them before opening the package. Inside is a beautiful charm bracelet with all kinds of different charms on it, all of them portraying a part of Hogwarts.

“Wow,” is all I can say.

“You like it?” Nathan asks tentatively.

“How can I not?” I ask smiling. “I got it from my best friends.”

“But do you like it?” Celeste asks. “Getting it from us doesn’t mean you like it. How do we know you don’t hate it and are just too nice to say it to us?”

I laugh. “You two are too insecure and paranoid. It’s beautiful, I really love it. Thanks, guys.”

I hug them both. 

“We have something else for you, it’s a birthday gift from our parents,” Celeste says slowly. “They kinda forced us to take it with us and give it to you.”

“What’s it then?” I ask, suddenly suspicious.

Celeste takes a small satchel from her bag and hands it to me. “We told them you didn’t want it-“

“-But they didn’t listen,” Nathan finishes. “You know how they are.”

I take the satchel from Celeste and open it. Inside are a few Galleons and Sickles.

“I can’t take this,” I say quickly, pushing it over the table back to Celeste.

“Mom and dad want you to have it. You’re like a daughter to them,” Nathan tells me. “Besides they said they wouldn’t take it back and that we couldn’t take it from you either.”

Celeste shoves it back to me. “Anyway, we’ve got to get some dress robes or something for school this year. You can use this money for that.”

“Why  _ do _ we have to get dress robes?” I ask them.

“Don’t know,” Nathan says. “Dad just says we’ll find out when we get to Hogwarts.”

As we finish our ice cream and get ready to go we hear someone behind us sneer. “What are you doing here,  _ mudblood _ ? Don’t you have to work?”

I turn around to see a guy just a little taller than me with icy blue eyes and platinum blonde hair stare back, Draco Malfoy.

“What’s up,  _ Draco _ ,” I say coldly. “You’re very brave, being here without your daddy. Aren’t you afraid you’ll get your arse handed to you by a girl?”

He snickers. “What do I have to be afraid of? You’re just a little girl without any money or parents.”

I grab the front of his shirt and am about to hit his smug face when I hear someone call me. “’Ey Ember.”

I push Draco back and turn around to see Hagrid standing in front of me. Hagrid is the gamekeeper at Hogwarts and a good friend of mine. He’s almost three times as tall as I am, has black hair which is all over the place, just like his beard and his black eyes seem to shine and light up his face as he smiles at me.

“Hey Hagrid,” I say, forcing myself to smile. “How’re you doing?”

“Great,” he says, his smile disappearing as he looks after Draco, who ran away after I let him go. “Wha’re yeh all doin’?”

I smile innocently. “Just getting our school supplies.”

“Yeh gotta be careful, wi’ tha’ un,” Hagrid says, nodding in the direction Draco ran off. “His dad go’ a lo’ of influence.”

I chuckle. “He won’t tell his father about this, if he would, he’d have to tell him how a girl got the better of him and he’s too proud to do that.”

“Jus’ be careful,” Hagrid tells me. Then his face clears up and he’s smiling again. “Well, see yeh at Hogwarts.”

He walks away towards Gringotts while we walk towards Flourish and Blotts to get our books.

*********************************************************

A few hours later we’re sitting at a small cafe with all our purchases scattered around us. It took us a few hours but in the end Celeste and I found the perfect dresses. Nathan just got a suit, so he was very relieved when we finally found the right dress. Celeste has a light-blue, strapless dress, while I have a black and blue, one-shoulder one, which matches perfectly with my dark-blue eyes.

“What time is it?” I ask the two as I finish my drink.

“Don’t know,” Celeste says.

“Don’t care,” Nathan immediately follows.

I sigh, some things never change. I take my watch out of my bag and look at it.

03:50 pm it says.

“Geesh, I gotta go,” I tell them, quickly picking up all my bags and running to the Leaky Cauldron where I change back in my gray dress.

I hug Nathan and Celeste one more time before taking out my floo powder and throwing it in the fireplace. I say where I want to go and jump in. Again I’m surrounded by green fire as I travel back to the orphanage. As I fall out of the fireplace I land in front of someone’s shiny, black shoes.

I look up slowly and look right into Miss Cole’s face. She looks down at me, her green eyes looking like two overripe watermelons.

“Where were you?” she asks, stretching every syllable.

When she’s like this I know better than to answer. Answering will only make the punishment worse.

“Answer me!” she suddenly yells, making me inch away from her.

“I was getting school supplies,” I mumble.

“What? I didn’t hear you,” Miss Cole says threateningly. “And look at me when you’re talking to me.”

I look up into her cold eyes, while also keeping an eye on her hands which are holding a wooden ruler, her favorite instrument to punish us. “I was out getting school supplies,” I say more clearly.

“You know the rules,” she bellows as she pushes me towards the wall. I bite the inside of my lip as I turn to it, placing my hands against it for stability as Miss Cole snaps and strikes me on the back with the ruler. “No one leaves this place without me saying they can.” She strikes again and again.

Over the years I’ve gotten used to it, so it doesn’t affect me as much, but that doesn’t make the pain go away. After she figures I’ve learned my lesson she makes me do all the chores which haven’t been done yet, which takes me until late in the evening to finish. After that, I’m sent to bed without any food, together with the other girls.

Mandy and Alicia immediately run to me as we reach our bedroom. “We’re so sorry,” they say.

“We tried to keep Miss Cole busy,” Mandy says.

“Someone told her about what you were doing,” Alicia explains. “We just don’t know who.”

I’m so tired I’m not even listening.

“It’s okay,” is all I say before climbing in bed, not even taking off my dress. I’m asleep in no time, plagued by nightmares of a house on fire while a group of people just stand there, watching and laughing.


	3. A trip on the hogwarts express

The rest of the vacation goes by awfully slowly, which does nothing to improve my mood or Miss Cole’s. It’s like she keeps looking for reasons to punish me. I really can’t wait to get out of here again.

Finally, the big day arrives, I’m leaving for Hogwarts in just a few hours!

I wake up extra early to pack all my stuff in a brown worn trunk which used to be full of toys. Now, those are nowhere to be found. When I finish packing I change out of my nightgown and into my grey dress. Just a few more hours and after that I won’t have to wear it for a long time.

As I get downstairs I see Miss Cole sitting at the dining table all dressed, sipping a cup of tea. She has a weird smile on her face as she looks at me.

“Why are you wearing that old thing?” she asks sweetly. I don’t trust this at all.

“I don’t have anything else, do I?” I say, knowing very well it’s a lie.

“I’m sure you do,” Miss Cole purrs. “A beautiful girl like you wouldn’t wear something as ugly as that ragged old dress in her free time, now would you? Go up and change, just leave that thing here.”

I look her over and when I don’t find anything out of the ordinary I ask, “are you feeling okay, miss?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asks in return.

“You’re acting so nice, I thought you didn’t like me,” I tell her.

She thinks for a second before answering. “I just thought I’d be nice to you for a change, we won’t be seeing you for a long time after all.”

Slowly I head back upstairs and change into a light-blue summer dress and a small leather jacket. After that I head back to the kitchen and make myself a sandwich.

“Ready to go?” Miss Cole asks, the car keys already in her hand.

“Yes,” I tell her.

As we’re driving towards the station, which is on the other side of London, Miss Cole starts talking.

“You know that most girls look up to you.”

I look at her. “Yeah.”

“And that they would do anything you want, for example misbehave.”

“What do you mean?”

“So you, for example, could go shopping without me knowing.” Her voice changes back into that icy sneer I know so well. “Only a handful of girls are smart enough not to fall for your tricks.”

“What tricks?” I exclaim. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You act nice, but inside you’re rotten, to the core.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask as we stop at the station.

Miss Cole jumps out of the car and runs to the back getting out my stuff before turning to me.

“If I let you stay, you’ll turn all those girls against me and we can’t have that, can we? So as from now on you are  _ banned _ from  _ my _ orphanage.” And with that she jumps back in her car and drives off.

“Who says I want to be there!” I call after her, but it’s useless. I’m all alone, lost my home, my family, all I have left is school.

With a heavy heart I pick up Nyx’s cage and my trunk and I go off looking for a trolley. Luckily I find one soon and then it’s just a matter of getting to platform 9 ¾ on time. Blindly, I start walking towards platforms nine and ten not looking where I go. I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t see anyone in front of me until I hit someone with my trolley, almost making Nyx’s cage fall.

“I’m sorry,” I say quickly. I look up to see a guy with fiery red hair and a lot of freckles look at me. As soon as I see him I smile.

“Hey George,” I greet him. “Funny we keep bumping into each other like this.”

The first time we met was when I was eleven, that time he ran me over with his cart. Ever since then, it’s been a bit of a running gag between us.

“Let me guess,” he says smiling. “Long overdue payback?”

I laugh. “Let’s call it that.” I look around. “Where’s the rest of the family?”

“They’re all getting trolleys,” George says. Apart from him and Fred, two other Weasley’s also go to Hogwarts. Their brother Ron, who is a fourth year, and their sister Ginny, who is a third year. Both of them are Gryffindors. They also have three older brothers who’re already done with school, Bill, Charlie and Percy. 

“Shouldn’t you be getting one too?” I ask him.

“Why don’t we share yours?” he asks, winking. “You won’t let your best friend walk all that way right carrying all my trunks?”

“Who says you’re my best friend?” I ask teasing.

George grabs his chest, as if in shock. “Ember, I thought you were my friend.” He starts to fake-cry and I make a whole scene out of ‘comforting’ him.

“Poor boy, if you stop crying you’ll get a kiss,” I say. Immediately he stops and leans forward. ”From Fred!” I say as I run towards his twin.

“Hey Ember,” he says as I jump him and trap him in a hug.

“So he gets a hug but I get run over by a trolley?” George asks as he takes my trolley, which now holds his stuff too, and pushes it to where Fred and I stand laughing.

I walk towards him and hug him too. “That better?” I ask him pouting.

“Whatever,” he says, rolling his eyes while he smiles.

“Ember!” I hear someone call out behind me. I turn around and see a girl who looks just like the twins only smaller, walking towards us.

“Hey, Gin,” I greet her. “How’ve you been?”

“Great,” she squeals as we hug.

The next ones to arrive at our little group are two boys and a girl. The first boy is another tiny version of the twins but with longer hair, the second one has black hair, thick glasses and a scar on his forehead which is nearly covered by his hair. The girl has a lot of auburn curls lining her small face and little dimples as she smiles at me.

“Hey, Ember. How was your summer vacation?” she asks me.

“Hey, Hermione, Ron, Harry,” I say. “Summer was just as always, a lot of work. How was yours? I heard about the Quidditch World Cup, did you go there?”

They look at each other in turns. “What?” I ask them.

“Something happened,” Harry says in the end. “Something bad.”

That’s when Mrs. Weasley arrives at our little group with two guys who look similar to the Weasley boys. They both have red hair and some freckles but one also has some sort of earring and he’s wearing his hair in a ponytail, the other looks more muscular than the other boys.

“Ember, good to see you,” Mrs. Weasley says. 

“Nice to see you too, Mrs. Weasley,” I say. “And you must be Bill and Charlie.” I say to the two men.

“I’m Bill,” Ponytail says.

“That must mean I’m Charlie,” Muscles adds. “So you’re Ember,” he says, giving a meaningful look to the twins.

“Yeah,” I say with half a smile. “Why?”

“Nothing,” Fred says quickly. “We gotta go, can’t miss the train.”

The twins start running towards the gate leading to platform 9 ¾.

“What’s gotten into those two?” I ask laughing. “They never seem so eager to go to school.”

“You should ask them,” Bill answers, winking at me.

Together the eight of us follow the twins to platform 9 ¾ where the Hogwarts express is already waiting.

After having said our goodbyes to Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie, we hop on the train and find ourselves a cabin. 

“Just a few more hours and we’ll be at Hogwarts,” I sigh happily. 

\-------------------------------------------

We’ve been travelling for a few hours now, the streets of London have made way for beautiful green landscapes. I was just playing a muggle card game with Hermione while listening to Harry and Ron, who were filling me in on what happened at the World cup, when the door to our cabin opens.

“There you are, Ember,” the person who opened it, says. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

I turn away from the card game to look at the person. He’s at least a head taller than me and has straw-colored hair and deep green eyes.

“Hey, Noah,” I say. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean ‘what’s going on’?” he asks annoyed. “We’ve got a prefect meeting right now.”

I stand up quickly, having totally forgotten about the meeting. “Let’s get going. We wouldn’t want to be late.”

Together we rush to one of the first compartments. 

“It should be around here,” Noah mutters to himself as we scan the different cabins. 

“Found it,” I say as I look through one of the glass doors. We knock on the door before going in.

“Where have you two been?” a blond girl wearing a Head Girl badge, asks. “We’ve already begun.”

“Sorry,” we quickly say before sitting down next to another boy and girl who are both sixth years. 

“Where were we?” the Head Boy of this year asks. I think his name is Jesse.

“You were talking about a prefect’s responsibility," the girl next to me reminds him.

“Right,” he says. “Well, we, as Hogwarts’ prefects, have to make sure that everyone follows the rules and when they don’t we can either take away points or give them detention. This only applies to our own House-”

“Why would we do that?” I ask him. “Isn’t it like, kinda stupid to take away your own House’s points?”

Head Boy grumbles. “That’s the whole point. If they know we take points from them, they won’t do anything that would make their House lose points. Now where was I-”

Together the Head Girl and Boy go on for what seems like hours about our ‘responsibilities’ and what not. 

“Lastly, Slytherin and Gryffindor prefects, you will get a note with the password to your dorms, as soon as you read them, they burn up so be careful.”

As they hand out the notes I look at Emily, a fifth year Ravenclaw who apparently also became a prefect. We’ve been friends for about three years now and in those three years we came up with a language only the two of us know which is basically a different version of the British sign language.

_ “Hey, _ ” I sign.

“ _ Yo,” _ she signs back.  _ “How’s life?” _

_ “Harsh, I’ll tell you later.” _

We look up as Head girl, who’s called Tracy, claps her hands. “That’ll be all, now until we get to Hogwarts, we need you to monitor the halls, make sure no one tries to do anything stupid.”

“Yes ma’am,” I say under my breath as we all start leaving the cramped room. Just as I walk out of the room, Emily jumps me.

“Hey!” she calls out.

“Hey!” I say, trying to sound just as excited as her. I fail miserably.

“What’s wrong?” she asks me.

I just smile at her. “Let’s find somewhere to change and then I’ll tell you.”

Soon we find an empty cabin. We get in, lock the door behind us and blind the windows so no one can see us change. As we change into our Hogwarts uniform, I fill her in on everything that’s happened this summer, leaving out the beatings I took.

“So you don’t have a home anymore?” Emily asks when I’m done talking.

“I guess not,” I tell her. “I’ll just talk to Dumbledore or McGonagall when we get to Hogwarts, they’ll figure something out.”

“Of course they will,” Emily says while grabbing my hand. “If they can’t, I don’t know who can.”

I turn back to my pile of clothes and pick up my prefect badge. “If we put this on it’s official,” I tell Emily facing her while she holds out her own badge. 

“Let’s put it on at the same time,” she suggests. “Three…”

“Two…”

“One.” we say both as we pin on our badge. I must say I don’t feel any different.

“Let’s go, I don’t feel like staying here for the rest of the trip,” I tell Emily. We open the door and walk out into the hall.

“Well, look who we have here,” I hear someone sneer.

“Came back for more,  _ Draco _ ,” I ask the boy. “It really was a shame Hagrid came by and saved your sorry arse, but he isn’t here now…”

To my delight Draco’s skin turns even whiter than it normally is.

“You wouldn’t,” he says.

“Try me,” I dare him. “You have no idea what I’m capable of. Now go back to your little friends and stay there till we’re at Hogwarts.”

Draco grunts but turns around and goes back the way he came.

“How’d you do that?” Emily asks me.

“Do what?”

“Stand up to Malfoy, I know of some guys older than us that are afraid of him.”

“First of all, the boy’s got a name, use it. Second, I’ve had enough people in my life who tried to make me feel like less than I am, if I just let them walk over me like that I’d have nothing left. I’d be reduced to nothing myself. So I taught myself to stand up for what I believe in.”

The rest of the journey is fairly quiet, except for some missing pets and Neville who got himself locked up in the bathroom.

As the Hogwarts express stops at the train station, rain is pouring down from the sky. It had been raining the whole day but now it’s like it’s not just raining down but also up. In a matter of seconds we’re drenched. Luckily we’re some of the first to get into a carriage which will take us the rest of the way to Hogwarts.

Once there, we run into the building, only missing a falling water balloon by an inch. We look up to see Peeves, the school’s poltergeist, throw them at everyone who walks in. I hear someone scream and see Hermione in the doorway, soaking wet with a partial water balloon in her hair. 

“Peeves!” I hear a woman call out. “Stop that immediately.”

I turn around to see professor McGonagall wrestle her way through the never ending stream of students. Her black and grey hair in a slightly messy bun at the back of her neck.

Peeves clearly doesn’t listen to her because he throws a few more balloons, even some at McGonagall. I see her puff up some. This isn’t going to end well.

“Hey, Peeves,” I call up to the ghost. “I think I see the Bloody Baron come this way!” I point nowhere in particular hoping he won’t look and it works. He leaves the water balloons alone and quickly floats off.

“Thank you, Ember,” McGonagall tells me as she starts to direct everyone who’s still coming in, to the Great Hall.

After everyone has arrived and the Sorting ceremony is over, the feast begins. And when I say feast, I mean Feast. All kinds of food are laid out on golden plates and when the main course is done, the desserts come. After the desserts have gone too, Dumbledore stands up and begins his normal speech. He introduces our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, adds a few more things to Filch’s never ending list of Things We Can’t Have But Will Have Anyway and talks about how the Forbidden Forest is indeed forbidden. Then he goes off track by saying there won’t be a Quidditch Cup this year. Most of the students start objecting, but everyone quickly settles down.

“I know you are very disappointed,” Dumbledore continues. “But I am sure that what we have for you in return is something you’ll enjoy just as much. This year Hogwarts will be the site for something that hasn’t been done in over a century. It is my pleasure to announce that this year the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts.”


	4. Back home

“What’s he talking about?” I ask Celeste, who sits to my left.

“Shut up,” Nathan says from my other side. “Just listen.”

Dumbledore doesn’t have to wait long till everyone’s quiet again, everyone wants to know what’s going on. He goes on to explain the Triwizard Tournament and its history. 

“The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will arrive at Hogwarts with their contenders in October. The three champions will be selected during Hallowe’en. An impartial judge will choose who is worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the reputation of their school and a thousand galleons personal prize money.”

This is when everyone goes crazy. A thousand galleons is a huge amount of money after all. I already see Fred and George making plans how they could use the money to start their own prank shop they’ve been talking about for so long. 

Dumbledore gives us a minute to talk about everything before continuing. “I know you are all very eager to win the Cup for Hogwarts, but after consideration the three heads of the schools together with the Ministry of Magic, have decided on an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are seventeen years or over are allowed to put their names forward.”

At this point a lot of people start to object.

“This is for the sole reason that the tasks will still be very dangerous. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks the judge into making them our Champion.”

He looks directly at Fred and George when he says that.

“I therefore ask you not to submit yourself if you are underaged. On another note, the delegations of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and stay with us for the greater part of the year. I expect you to extend every courtesy to our guests and give your support to the Hogwarts Champion, whoever it may be. Now, it has been a long day and it’s important for you to be relaxed and well-rested for your lessons tomorrow, so it’s time for bed. First years, you can follow your prefects to your dorms.”

I stand up together with Noah and walk towards where the first years are seated.

“Gryffindor first years,” I call out. “Gather here, please.”

As they all gather around us, I turn to Noah. “I gotta go to Dumbledore real quick. When I get back we’ll get going.”

I quickly make my way over to professor Dumbledore. “Professor, is it possible if I come to your office in half an hour? There’s something I have to talk to you about.”

Dumbledore looks at me over his glasses. His blue eyes shining, as always. “Of course, you are welcome to visit.”

I turn to walk away but think of something. “By the way,” I say, turning around. “What’s the password at the moment?”

Dumbledore’s smile seems to get a little bigger. “Cockroach clusters.”

I smile, of course it’s candy. “I’ll just get the first years back to the dorms.”

I get back to the group of first years that’s waiting with Noah.

“Let’s get going,” I tell them as I start walking out of the Great Hall. As we walk out of the Hall I feel a sudden gust of wind that blows my light brown hair into my face and almost blows a few of the first years through the air.

“What the hell!” I exclaim as I throw my hair back.

I hear some guys laugh mockingly. As I turn to look at them I see that it’s Draco with his watchdogs.

“Shouldn’t you be in your dorms?” I ask them.

“Who’re you to tell  _ us _ what to do,  _ mudblood _ ?” Draco sneers and I hear a few kids draw in their breath.

I walk up to him, pushing him against the wall. “Are you still at it?” I ask, poking him in the chest. “I told you before, I won’t take those insults you throw at me. If it wasn’t for those first years we’d be having a very different talk. Now take those lap dogs you call friends and get going.”

I turn around, flinging my hair in his face and stalk back to my group of first years. “The Gryffindor Tower is this way,” I call to them as I start climbing the marble stairs leading upstairs. 

“You should always be careful if you climb these stairs. They have a tendency to move.” Noah starts explaining to the group.

“What do you mean by that?” a small black-haired girl asks.

“Just look up,” I tell them and as we look up we can see some stairs shifting. We stand there for a while looking up at the stairs but then Noah and I tell the group it’s time to start moving again. On our way to the dorms we tell them about the castle and Gryffindor House. We greet several ghosts and before long we arrive at the portrait of the Fat Lady, which hides the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

“Good evening,” she greets us.

“Evening,” I say back.

“Password?”

“Balderdash,” I say clearly so everyone can hear.

The Fat Lady swings open and reveals a doorway.

“Welcome to the Gryffindor Tower. This is where you will be living while at school,” Noah says as the first years start walking in.

I walk in with them and look around the common room, looking at the red couches filled with some of the older students busy talking and having fun.

“This is the common room,” I tell the first years who have gathered around me. “This is a good place to do your homework or relax. Upstairs are the dorms. The right door leads to the girls’ dormitory, the left leads to the boys’ dormitory. Now I suggest you go up and have a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow will be hard enough. And if you ever have any questions you can always come to us.”

As the group of first years get upstairs I walk back out of the common room and head to Dumbledore’s office. I walk towards the gargoyle statue on the third floor, say the password and, after the gargoyle jumps away, run up the stairs. As I get to the office I knock on the door.

“Come in,” I hear Dumbledore calling from inside.

I open the door slowly and get in. I’ve been here a few times before so I know what to expect. The office has three levels, the first is full of books about everything you can imagine, the second is where a desk stands and the third is also full of books as well as a giant telescope. 

As I walk in, Dumbledore is nowhere to be seen so I make some small talk with the people in the paintings all over the walls, and the Sorting Hat. 

“What was it you wanted to talk about, miss Ember?” Dumbledore asks suddenly. 

I explain about the orphanage and how I was kicked out. “Do you think you could help me fix it?” I ask Dumbledore. 

He sits at his desk, looking at me. “I think we can arrange something.”

“Thanks professor!” I exclaim, holding back the urge to hug him.

“Now, go to bed. Tomorrow is a new day with new lessons.”

I walk back to the door but before I walk out Dumbledore calls after me, ”Also miss Ember, welcome home.”


	5. The first day of school

The next morning I wake up because of a tapping at my window. I jump out of bed and walk to my window to see Nyx flying in front of it with a letter in her talons. 

Quickly, I let her in, making sure not to disturb any of the other girls who are still fast asleep. I take the letter from her and give her a treat, which I always lay next to my bed. Other than the other owls, Nyx always brings my mail to my room.

As I look at the letter I can already see it’s from the girls at the orphanage. I rip the letter open and start reading.

_ Dear Ember, _

_ We’ve got to be quick, Miss Cole can’t know about this. _

_ She just came back from the station and said you ran away. Of course, no one believed her. But just to be sure, you’re coming back next year right? _

_ Please write back as soon as possible, it’s chaos here without you. _

_ xox _

_ Mandy, Alicia & the rest _

I just sit on my bed for some time, staring at the letter. Did she really say I ran away?

Angry, I grab some parchment, a quill and some ink and start writing.

_ Hey girls, _

_ I hope you get this letter. _

_ I just want to say Miss Cole is lying. I’d never just leave you guys without me knowing you’ll be okay. The truth is Miss Cole kicked me out but I already talked to the Headmaster, he’s gonna fix this so please don’t go about doing anything I wouldn’t. _

_ I hope to see you next year! _

_ Love you all very much, _

_ Ember _

_ p.s. please  _ don’t _ try to get back at Miss Cole or anything, she just does what she thinks best. _

_ p.p.s. act like you never got this letter. Miss Cole can’t know you know the truth. _

I stuff the letter in an envelope and give it to Nyx.

“Bring it to the girls for me, will you?” I tell her as she flies away again.

I start dressing as it’s about time to wake up anyway. A little bit of makeup and I’m ready for a new day. As I walk to the common room I see that a few Gryffindors are already awake.

“Morning,” I greet them.

“Morning, Ember,” they all say.

“Congrats for becoming a prefect,” Sandra, a fourth year, says. Her black hair looks pretty messy and there are small bags under her brown eyes.

“Sleep well?” I ask her as I go to stand with them.

“Pretty crappy actually, I don’t know why but I couldn’t sleep at all. No matter how hard I tried,” she says miserably.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I hope it’ll be better tonight.”

We talk a bit about our vacation and what everyone expects the classes to be like this year.

“I’m really interested how professor Moody will be teaching,” I think out loud.

“You’re not the only one,” Michael, a dark blond sixth year, says. “I heard he only took the job because Dumbledore asked him.”

“Did you know he’ll only be staying here for one year?” Richard, a brown haired third year, asks us.

“Most Defence against the Dark Arts teachers stay for just one year,” I tease. “What else is new?”

“Yeah, but they all went away for totally legit reasons,” Sandra immediately counters.

“So, maybe Moody has a good reason to stay for one year too,” I say, ending the argument. “Anyway, Michael, as the only seventeen year old in this group, are you planning to enter the Triwizard Tournament?”

Michael puffs up his chest a little before answering. “Of course, it’d be an honor to represent Hogwarts. And anyway, it would be fun to have a Gryffindor Champion instead of a Slytherin.”

At this, we all laugh.

Suddenly I feel two arms around my shoulders.

“Missed us?” I hear Fred say from my left.

“Who wouldn’t,” George tells his brother. I can just hear the smirk in his voice.

“That doesn’t mean I would,” I kid as I poke both of them in the stomach teasingly.

“Why’d you do that?” George asks, rubbing his stomach while pouting at me.

I laugh. “Anyone hungry?” I ask instead of answering George.

As I’d expected the twins immediately look a lot happier. “Let’s go,” Fred calls out as he and George each grab one of my arms and start dragging me towards the Great Hall.

I look around for any help but the others just laugh and follow us.

On our way to the Great Hall most people stop and stare as they see me being pulled along by the Weasley twins.

As we reach the Great Hall we walk towards the Gryffindor table and only as we sit down do they let me go. I start piling eggs and a few sausages on my plate.

“Here are your schedules,” I hear someone behind me say. I turn around to see Jake, the male sixth year prefect of Gryffindor, with some papers in his hand.

“Thanks,” I say as I take the papers handing one to each of the boys and the rest of the group who are sitting on the other side of the table.

“What do you have?” Sandra asks me.

Looking at my schedule I say, “I have History of Magic, Potions, Divination, and Defence Against the Dark Arts. How about you?”

“I have Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy,” she tells me.

We keep talking about our schedules a little longer before walking to our classrooms. As I walk towards my classroom I walk into Celeste and Nathan who are in a heated discussion with a Ravenclaw about Quidditch so I decide to leave them alone. If they’re talking about Quidditch you  _ really _ don’t want to disturb them. There are not many things these two love more than a game of Quidditch.

As I reach our classroom, every seat is still as good as empty. A few other people are already in class making themselves comfortable, no one stays awake during History of Magic. Our teacher, Professor Binns, is just too boring. I sit down at a table on the left side of the room, planting my back to the wall. This is going to be a long day.

*********************************

After a long day of school I don’t even get time to relax because of all the homework we got. I spend the whole afternoon with the Murik twins, trying to get everything finished. Only after we’d had dinner do we have some sort of free time which we spend playing several games in the Gryffindor common room.

“What’d you think of professor Moody?” I ask the twins.

“Kinda weird,” Celeste tells me.

“Yeah, how he used those three Unforgivable Curses on those spiders,” Nathan says, shivering at the thought.

“I know, it was awful,” I agree. “I don’t know what to think of him. He seems... distant or something. But well, maybe that’s just the way he is. At least we can be pretty sure this won’t be a boring school year.”

We talk a little bit longer before going to bed.


	6. Finally some good news

The next few weeks fly by in a daze. Every day the same routine of waking up, going to class, doing homework and helping out in the owlery.

I always try to teach Nyx and some other owls tricks when I get to the owlery and, now I come here every day, they learn a lot more than in other years. I’ve just started working at the owlery this year after a letter from Mr. Goldash, my employer at the owlery on Diagon Alley, to Professor McGonagall.

So now, here I am playing with Nyx and the other owls. I throw some stuff in the air and they try to grab them as fast as they can. We’ve been doing this for some time when someone behind me clears their throat.

“Professor Dumbledore sent me to get you,” I hear them say.

I turn around and look right in the face of Michael, he looks quite grim.

“Hey Michael,” I say cheerfully. “Why so serious?”

“Dumbledore said it was about your living problem or something,” Michael tells me, ignoring my question. “Is there something you didn’t tell us?”

I pretend to be thinking about it. “Nope, not that I know of.” I really hope he didn’t hear the tremble in my voice. 

I begin to walk past him but he grabs my arm before I can disappear.

“If there’s anything going on you’ll tell, right?” he asks, looking me in the eye.

Of course, I will,” I tell him, feeling uncomfortable. “We’re friends after all.” With that I pull away and walk out. I just hear Michael murmur something like, “I hoped we were more,” or something like that before I turn the corner and start running to the castle.

In no time at all I arrive at the gargoyle statue on the third floor and I’m happy to find out that the password hasn’t changed yet. I take the stairs two at a time and as I finally get at Dumbledore’s office I’m panting. I really should have taken a little more time.

I knock and immediately hear Dumbledore call out, “Come in.”

I walk in, feeling nervous all of a sudden. “You wanted to see me?” I ask Dumbledore, who is sitting behind his desk. 

“Yes, please sit,” Dumbledore says, gesturing to a chair in front of his desk.

“Do you have information on the orphanage?” I ask, not even waiting until I sit down. “Am I allowed to come back?”

Dumbledore takes his time answering, only adding to my stress level, which is already sky high. “I have visited the orphanage you lived at until recently, yesterday and I had a little chat with this ‘Miss Cole’ of yours. She seems to have the idea that you try to undermine her authority.”

“That’s a lie!” I call out. “I’d never do that, Professor. You have to believe me.”

Dumbledore smiles at me. “Miss Ember, I fully believe in your good intentions, this is also what I told Miss Cole. After a fairly long talk, I got her to take you back-” At this point it’s like a weight is lifted off my shoulders. “But there’s a catch.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, the moment of relief over and done for.

“What I mean is that she has accepted you back into her care but she will kick you out, and this time forever, if you try anything that goes against her rules.”

I think this over. “So I can come back as long as I behave?”

“And-”

“There’s more?” I start to feel a little claustrophobic.

“As long as you’re at school you can’t send any more letters to the other orphanage girls.”

“What?!” I yell, jumping out of my chair. “You can’t be serious? That’s so unfair.”

Dumbledore just keeps sitting there, looking just as calm as ever.

“Miss Ember, before you continue I have something for you.” He takes an envelope from one of the drawers of his desk. “After my talk with Miss Cole I got the chance to talk to some of the girls you call your family. One of them gave me this. I hope it will help you decide whether or not you take Miss Cole’s offer.”

With this, he gives me the envelope, smiles and says, “Now, it’s almost dinner time and I suggest you use the time until then to read that letter. I will be going back in two days' time, by then I want to know if you accept Miss Cole’s terms.”

I smile. “I’ll think about it, professor. And thanks for the help.”

I get to the Gryffindor common room as fast as I can and pick a seat near the crackling fire. I open the envelope and start reading.

_ Dear Ember, _

_ You never told us your headmaster was so old. He’s here now, we saw him as he walked with Miss Cole to her office. He’s here to talk about you, isn’t he? _

_ Good to know you didn’t run away, some of the girls were very scared when they heard Miss Cole say that. We still don’t understand why Miss Cole kicked you out and we haven’t done anything to make her think we know anything. _

_ We gotta go, Miss Cole is coming back out together with your headmaster. He’s coming this way! _

_ XOX _

_ Mandy, Alicia and the rest. _

_ p.s. Your headmaster is awesome! _

I laugh as I read the last line. Of course, I know Dumbledore is awesome. And he was right, reading this letter I suddenly know what to do.

I go to my room and take out some parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink.

_ Hey girls, _

_ It’s official, I’m coming back next year. But I can’t send you any more letters, so this will be the last for now. _

_ I’m looking forward to seeing you again soon. _

_ Love you, _

_ Ember _

_ p.s. Dumbledore is pretty amazing, isn’t he? _

I stuff the letter in an envelope and head to the Great Hall for dinner.

After dinner, I walk up to Dumbledore and say, “Professor, would you please tell Miss Cole I agree to her terms?”

Dumbledore nods slowly with a smile on his face. “Of course.”

“And when you’re at the orphanage would you give this to the girls?” I ask, handing him the envelope. “I can’t send them any letters but if you give it to them it’s not really sending, is it?”

This makes Dumbledore laugh. “I would be delighted to pass it on.”

With a happy feeling, I get into bed that night, unaware that I just put a lot of lives in danger.


	7. Confessions

The next morning I wake up when someone knocks on the dorm door. It’s saturday so we can sleep in. I look at my alarm clock, it’s 07:45 am. I sigh and turn around. Whoever they are can just go back to bed, please and thank you.

It’s quiet for a while but when I think the person is gone, they start knocking again. “Okay, okay, I’m coming,” I mumble as I get up and walk to the door. I can see Celeste sitting up in bed as well, rubbing her eyes. 

As I open the door, I’m surprised to see Sandra, Hermione, and Ginny standing right outside.

“What’s going on?” I ask them grumpily. “Why are you up already?”

“We need to talk,” Hermione tells me.

“What do you mean?” I ask as they all walk in. “Please, do come in.” Sarcasm is heavy in my voice as I say that.

“Michael asked us to talk to you,” Sandra says while she sits down on my bed. “Something about your home and whether or not you can go back there after the school year is over.”

I sigh. “I told him, I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”

“Has anything happened at the orphanage after we went shopping?” Celeste asks me, looking worried.

I fiddle with the locket hanging around my neck, which I always do when I don’t know what to do. “Nothing worth telling.”

Hermione looks at me suspiciously. She’s the only person here at school who knows what’s going on at the orphanage. She found out when she saw my scars.

“Then what’s wrong?” Ginny asks. “Michael sounded really worried. He’s sure something’s wrong.”

“Whatever was wrong is fixed now,” I tell them.

“So something  _ was _ wrong,” Celeste says.

I take a deep breath. This is really starting to annoy me.

“Can’t you just leave me alone?!” I snap at them. I instantly regret it. “Sorry guys, I didn’t mean to say that.”

Hermione walks over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Please tell us what’s going on. We only want to help. All of us do.”

My shoulders slump as she leads me to my bed where we all sit down.

“Do you really want to know?” I ask them. They all nod. I go on to explain what had happened the day miss Cole brought me to King’s Cross. “That’s when she kicked me out,” I conclude.

Anger washes over me as I think back to that moment. I don’t even notice my hands forming into fists. 

“What do you mean?” Celeste asks, looking a bit white around the nose.

“She banned me from the orphanage.”

“So now what?” Sandra asks. “Where will you go after the school year is over?”

“Don’t worry about that, I told Dumbledore and he fixed it. I will be going back to the orphanage at the end of the year.”

“Was that what Dumbledore wanted to talk to you about?” Ginny asks. Hermione, I note, is keeping more quiet than usual.

“Yeah, it was.” I turn to Ginny, Celeste and Sandra. “Can you please tell Michael that we talked about this and that everything is okay? I need to talk to Hermione for a sec.”

They leave and as I close the door behind them I turn to Hermione. 

“Is everything okay?” she asks me. “Was what you told really all there is to it?”

“Hermione, why don’t you stop asking those silly questions and ask the question you really want to know about,” I tell her, while I start dressing in a light-pink T-shirt and a denim skirt that reaches just above my knees.

“Okay,” Hermione says, looking uncomfortable. “Does Dumbledore know what really happens at the orphanage?”

“Not as long as you didn’t tell him.”

“How long are you planning to keep it hidden? Someone is bound to find out some day.”

“But they haven’t yet, have they? After five years here at school, the only one who knows about this is you. And you haven’t told anyone, have you?”

“Of course not, I told you I wouldn’t, so I won’t. Unless you give me permission.”

“And I won’t give that. I don’t need others to know my problems, they’re mine to handle.” I run a hand through my hair. “Look, all that’s important now is that I can go back there after school is over.”

“Why would you  _ want _ to go back? Do you like getting beaten?”

“I can’t just leave the other girls like that,” I yell, getting fed up again. “I just can’t.”

Just then someone knocks on my door again. I open it and see Celeste standing there.

“Um, the boys sent me to, ehm, get you two,” she says, looking like she would rather be anywhere else but here. “They’ve been waiting for you so we can go to the Great Hall together.”

I smile lightly at her and turn to Hermione. “Let’s stop talking about this for now and get to the guys before they try to get up here themselves.”

We walk to the common room to see Sandra and Ginny busy trying to keep Ron, Fred and George from trying to get to the girls’ dorms.

“What’s going on?” I exclaim as I get downstairs.

“What took you so long?” Fred asks.

“We’re so hungry!” George whines, placing his hands over his stomach for extra effect.

I laugh as I look at my watch. “Guys, it’s just 08:25 am.”

“Exactly,” Ron says. “It’s already very late.”

“Boys,” I hear Hermione mumble under her breath and I can’t help but laugh.

“Well then, I thought I heard someone say something about going to the Great Hall.”

The eight of us together with Harry, Michael, Nathan and Richard head to the Great Hall which is already filling up with students who didn’t feel like sleeping in.

I grab a bowl of Cheeri Owls, my favorite cereal, and sit down next to Harry and Richard.

“Anyone have any plans for today?” I ask.

“I’m going to the library,” Hermione says to no one’s surprise.

“We’re going to work on some more items for our future joke shop,” George says.

“Can we help?” Nathan and Celeste ask at the same time. They are always into finding new ways to prank others, especially their parents’ posh friends.

Fred and George smile mischievously. “Yeah, why not.”

“We’re probably just going to do some homework,” Ginny says, gesturing to herself, Sandra and Richard.

“We’re going to pay Hagrid a visit,” Harry says, nodding at Ron.

I look at Michael. “What about you?”

“I was thinking about sneaking out to Hogsmeade, care to join me?”

I smile at him. “I’d love to but I was planning on going to the owlery.”

“Again?” Michael asks, a look of sadness flashing over his face though it’s gone as soon as it appeared. “You were there yesterday.”

“I know, I go there every day, you should know that by now.” In the meantime, the rest have packed their things and leave us to give us some privacy, though Fred has to be dragged along with Nathan and Celeste.

I lightly grab Michael’s hand. “I promise I’ll go with you next time. I just want to be alone for now, okay?”

“Okay,” Michael says, his eyes on my hand. I squeeze his hand lightly before standing up.

“Well, see ya,” I say before walking out of the Great Hall, but as I turn the corner to get to the owlery I walk straight into someone. As I see who it is I quickly take a few steps back, it’s Draco Malfoy.


	8. A fatal accident

“Watch where you’re going, mudblood,” Draco sneers as he straightens his shirt.

“Watch it,” I snap at him. “Don’t expect me to stay as forgiving as I have been if you keep acting like that. Or do I have to remind you of what happened a few years ago with that Gryffindor guy?”

To my delight, Draco seems at a loss of words. “You can’t keep using that forever,” he says in the end before storming to the Slytherin table, where most of the students are glaring at me.

I just shrug my shoulders and keep walking to the owlery.

The thing is, a few years ago when he was still a small second year, Draco got into a fight with a Gryffindor fifth year, a very bulky one. At that time, Crabbe and Goyle, his brainless monkeys, weren’t around to save him so, long story short, if I hadn’t jumped in to teach that fifth year a lesson in manners we would have had one less student here at Hogwarts.

Since that time, Draco feels like he owes me and he hates it. Personally, I couldn’t care less about it. I don’t even want anything to do with the guy. I just tolerate it because it drives him nuts.

I’m making my way across the courtyard as I hear someone call out my name. I turn around to see Emily running towards me.

“Hey Ember,” she says happily as she reaches me. “Where are you going on such a beautiful day?”

“Take a guess,” I tell her, smiling.

“Why aren’t you in Hogsmeade with Michael?” she blurs out.

“What do you mean?” I ask her. “And how do you know Michael asked me if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him?”

Emily mumbles something I can’t understand.

“Excuse me?”

Emily clears her throat before talking. “I may have given him the idea to ask you out.”

“You what? I told you, I only like him as a friend. Nothing more.”

“But he looked so desperate. He was afraid one of the twins would get to you first if he didn’t ask you now, so he came to me for advice.”

“The twins, as in the Weasley twins? He thought I’d be in love with one of them?”

“Of course he did and nothing I said seemed to change his mind so I just went along with it. You really have that boy's head going crazy."

I laugh. “How even? I'm not that special. I'm just… me."

Emily just looks at me as if I’m mad. "Don't talk about yourself like that. I believe you can get any guy if you set your mind to it."

“I don’t believe you,” I tell her as I turn around. “And if you don’t mind, I’ve got some owls to get to.”

“Just don’t forget what I told you,” Emily calls after me as I start walking away. “Even Draco Malfoy himself would fall for you if he’d keep his mouth shut long enough.”

As I get nearer to the owlery I start running, only stopping when I’m inside.

I don't know what Emily is thinking. I’m not that special, just a normal person. How could anyone ever think something different? Why would anyone want to waste their time on me?

That question keeps haunting me as I start cleaning the owlery tower. After that’s done, it’s time for the fun part. I take three little rubber balls from their hiding spot and whistle once. In no time there are half a dozen owls perched in a semi-circle around me.

I start the game by throwing all three of the balls in different directions through the tower. Three of the six owls fly after them almost immediately. I now grab three plastic rings and, one by one, throw them out of the window. Every time one of the remaining three owls flies after them. Then it’s just a matter of waiting until everything is brought back to me, which doesn’t take long.

This goes on for some time and I gradually relax more. I ease into the games we play and I don’t notice anything of my surroundings until I’m suddenly shoved in the back.

I cry out in surprise as I fall down and as always I hear the familiar screeching of Nyx coming to help me.

I try to call her off but breathe in a cloud of dust, making me go into a coughing fit. I hear a guy scream behind me and turn to see Nyx attack Draco with her talons outstretched. Draco has red scratches running over his cheek and on his arms, where Nyx had scratched him.

“Stop, Nyx!” I manage to say between coughs.

As Nyx flies to my side, Draco slowly lowers his arms. As he sees Nyx loyally sitting next to me, he smiles victoriously and it is then that I know how much trouble I’m in.

“That beast of yours could have killed me,” he tells me, slowly backing away. “You’ll pay for that. I’ll make sure of it.”

He starts running away to the exit and I jump up to meet him at the entrance to the tower, but I’m too late.

“She was only protecting me!” I yell after him but I know it’s no use. 

I go back inside with Nyx perched on my shoulder, waiting for what I know will happen now.

************************************

An hour later, professor McGonagall comes in with Nyx’s cage under her arm.

“You’re here for Nyx, aren’t you?” I ask her from my place at the window.

“You know the rules, Miss Ember,” McGonagall tells me. “Animals that have attacked a human have to be put down.”

“But why?!” I shout at her while tears are running down my face. “She was only protecting me. Does she have to be punished for that?”

“Mister Malfoy explained the situation to us, there was not a single moment when your life was in any danger.”

“That’s what he says, of course that’s what he says. He hates my guts for defying him, he’d do anything to see me miserable.”

“Miss Ember!” McGonagall exclaims. “Surely you are not saying what I think you are saying. Do you really think Mister Malfoy would have your owl killed just to hurt you?”

“I don’t know,” I say, throwing my hands up, scaring the hell out of Nyx who flies off my shoulder and towards a ridge a little further away. “But who knows what he’s capable of.”

“The fact remains that your owl has to, at least, be placed in quarantine. In cases like this the next move is usually decided by the victim of the crime, which, in this case, is Mister Malfoy.”

“So you’re saying that  _ Draco _ is the person that’s holding my owl’s life in his slimy little hands?” I spit at her. “If that’s the case you could just kill her now. Knowing him, that’s what he’ll say.”

“You must know, he has not decided on her faith just yet,” McGonagall tells me. “He may yet change his mind.”

Suddenly a plan starts to form in the back of my mind. “Yeah, he may. Thanks professor,” I say as I hand Nyx over to her and run out of the tower.

After looking around for some time I find Draco in an abandoned hall near the east tower.

“We need to talk,” I tell him. He just smirks.

“Miss your birdie already?” he mocks.

“No, and I don’t have to,” I snap at him. “You’re going to say you don’t want her to die for such a small mistake.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because you owe me. You have to.”

“No, I don’t,” Draco says, smiling wickedly. “I’ve already been doing little jobs for you so my debt is already half paid off. This is a big favor to ask. If I’d do it you’ll owe me.”

I don’t even have to think of the answer. “Whatever you want. Just make sure you save her.” I look at him pleadingly.

Draco seems to think about it for a second. “I’ll do it... on one condition.”

“Which is?”

“A kiss.”


	9. Debts paid

**Draco’s pov**

I see Ember mentally battle herself. She’d never agree to a kiss, at least not with me. Then again, she  _ does _ want her owl back. 

I watch her closely as she’s going through her options and I see her face fall as she comes to the conclusion.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” she asks.

This is going to be fun.

**Ember’s pov**

As I’m going through my options I keep going back to one point, if I don’t kiss Draco, Nyx is done for. I look at Draco and see that he’s smirking. He really is a hateful git. He knows what I know and I just hate that he holds all the cards right now.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” I ask him.

“You always have a choice.”

“Yeah, but most of those choices lead to my owl being murdered.”

“But you still have a choice.”

“I know but it’s not what I want.” I think for a moment. “But if I kiss you, you’ll promise to save Nyx?”

Draco stares at me as if I’ve gone mad. “Wait, you mean you’d really kiss me?”

“Of course I would,” I tell him. “I’m not going to like it, but I will if it saves Nyx.”

**Draco’s pov**

Are you kidding me? She’s really prepared to kiss me? Just for something as easily replaced as an owl?

“Why won’t you just buy a new owl?”

“Because she’s my friend.” Guess I hit a nerve there, she really seems pissed.

I smile, maybe I should press a bit harder.

“Animals can’t be friends. They’re only good for doing chores.”

“What do you know about friends?” she yells at me. Just a little bit more, she wouldn’t want to kiss me if her own life depended on it after this.

“I know more about it than you, your own parents didn’t even want to be with you.”

Suddenly, it seems like all the anger has left her and I’m feeling a little bit guilty. Not enough to say anything though.

“You don’t know that,” she says in a small voice while her hands play with her necklace. “Look, Nyx is probably my oldest friend. She’s been with me for as long as I can remember. She means the world to me. I would do anything for her. Even kiss someone as smug as you.”

I stand there flabbergasted, there’s really no way to get back on this promise.

“Let’s just get it over with,” Ember says as she walks closer to me. As our lips are almost touching I pull back.

**Ember’s pov**

I feel rather than see Draco pull back.

I glare at him. “Why are you pulling back? You asked for this yourself.”

“Because I thought you’d never agree to it,” he tells me.

“Well, too bad for you. I’d be willing to do just about anything to save those I love and you can’t even bring yourself to allow me to agree to your terms? You’re a coward, Draco Malfoy. I can’t believe I-”

Draco suddenly plants his lips on mine, silencing me. To be honest, he’s a pretty good kisser... for a Slytherin that is.

Before long, I find myself melting into the kiss. My back is against the wall as his tongue asks permission to enter my mouth. And, letting my body take over my common sense, I grant it to him.

We’ve been snogging forquite some time when I finally realize what I’m doing.

I push Draco a bit further away from me. “That’s enough,” I say as I try to catch my breath. “I fulfilled my end of the deal. Now it’s your turn. When you’re being asked what you want to have happen to Nyx, you’ll say that she doesn’t have to be punished or worse.”

With that, I quickly make my way over to the Gryffindor tower.

**Draco’s pov**

I look after Ember as she walks away, running a hand through my hair absentmindedly. That kiss was very different from what I thought it would be. It can even be considered pleasurable.

I shake my head to clear my mind. I can’t let her get to me, but it’s already too late, all I can think about is that kiss.

“Hey, Draco,” I hear a girl call out. I look around and see that I’m already in the Entrance Hall, while a brown-haired girl with brown eyes is walking towards me, her Slytherin insignia clearly visible on her Hogwarts robes. 

“What’s going on, Pansy?” I ask her, trying my best to sound like nothing has happened in the last few minutes.

“Professor Snape is looking for you, something about an owl,” she tells me. “What happened?”

“Nothing you need to know about,” I snap at her as I go to find Snape in his office.

“Mister Malfoy, I see you’ve decided to show up,” Snape says as he walks towards me.

“You wanted to see me?”

“Actually, Professor Dumbledore wants to have a word with you about Miss Ember’s owl.”

Together we walk to the Headmaster’s office. As we walk in, the first thing I see is that stupid owl in a cage with McGonagall standing right beside it. Right then and there, I have the urge to let her die but then I remember Ember’s lips on mine and I keep my mouth shut.

Suddenly, Dumbledore stands up. “Mister Malfoy, I assume you know why you’re here?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now, I will ask you a few questions and I ask you to answer them truthfully.”

I nod. I just want to get this over with.

“Is this the animal that attacked you?” Dumbledore asks, pointing at Ember’s owl.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, sir.” I say, rolling my eyes. I just told him, the incompetent fool.

“Do you know whose owl this is?”

“Yes.”

“Do you wish this person ill will?”

I think about this for some time. Do I want bad things to happen to Ember? As I realize the answer, it somehow doesn’t surprise me.

“No, I don’t.”

“Then my last question. What would you like to happen to this animal?”

I swallow before answering. “I don’t wish this animal any harm. I want her to be sent back to her owner.”

I see Dumbledore smile. Ugh, now he thinks I’m some kind of good guy.

“That was all. You can go now,” he says before turning to McGonagall, who is looking at me strangely.

I quickly make my way to the Slytherin common room. I don’t think Father would be very pleased with me if he found out what I did.

**Ember’s pov**

I’m sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Fred and George, waiting for Professor McGonagall to hear what will happen to Nyx. It’s already starting to get late and Draco didn’t give anything away during dinner.

As McGonagall walks in with an empty cage, I already figure Draco didn’t keep his promise.

“She’s gone, isn’t she?” I ask her, feeling tears coming up.

McGonagall suddenly gives me one of her rare smiles. “Actually, I came here to tell you that she is back in the owlery, where she belongs.”

I feel a smile form on my face as her words sink in. “She’s okay? I won’t lose her?”

“She’s just fine. Though I have to inform you that you can no longer work at the owlery.”

“Why not?” Fred and George ask at the same time while I stay silent.

“Because of the… accident that occurred, we have decided that it would be best if you’d keep a low profile for a while. Which also includes not working with the owls every day.”

“I understand,” I say, feeling less disappointed than I’d expected.

“Anyway, I suggest you take some rest after the stressful day you’ve just had,” McGonagall tells me.

Not soon after she leaves and I’m left with Fred and George.

“Well, boys,” I say yawning. “Guess McGonagall is right about the going to bed thing. See you tomorrow, ‘kay?”

"So you're just going to let them bench you?" Fred asks.

"What else can I do?" I ask. "Besides, it's better than having Nyx put down. Now, I'm going to bed. Good night."

“Sleep well,” they both say as I hug them.

I climb the stairs to the girls’ dorms and jump into bed after putting on my nightgown.

It doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep.


	10. Keeping secrets

**Ember’s pov**

In my dream, I’m standing right in front of a mansion. It looks beautiful. It is made out of some sort of black stone and the massive wooden front door gives way to a large hallway.

Just as I want to walk in, a man comes into view. He looks a lot like Draco but he’s taller and his hair is a lot longer. He steps in front of me and says, “Welcome to your new home.”

As he walks away, something on the ground catches my attention. Everywhere he steps it seems like he’s walking over bodies and as I look closer I see that they are the bodies of children.

Drenched in sweat, I wake up. This is the second time in two days I’ve had this dream. Ever since that kiss with Draco, I’ve been having a weird sense of foreboding, like I did something wrong but I just don’t know what that something is yet. 

Seeing as it’s no use going back to sleep, I grab some clothes and some towels and make my way to the prefects’ bathroom, which is on the fifth floor.

As I arrive at the right door I say the password and quickly get in, locking the door behind me. I turn open some of the beautiful golden taps that are standing around the edge of the bathtub and in no time the tub is full of water and bubbles. I then take off my pj’s and jump into the warm water letting it work its own kind of magic. 

As I lay in the water, letting it calm my nerves and wash away all the negative thoughts, I start to relax.

After a while, I get out of the bath and dry myself off before putting on my school robes. With the wave of my wand, I empty the tub before getting back to Gryffindor tower, where I pack my books. 

As I get back to the common room I find Celeste and George sitting  _ very _ close to each other. And, being the good friend I am, I can’t stop myself from using that against them.

“Oh My Merlin,” I call out as I jump down the stairs the rest of the way, scaring them half to death. “My babies are growing up.” I wipe away an imaginary tear.

Maybe being friends with the Weasley and Murik twins has made me a bit weird.

Celeste and George look at me strangely and then back at each other, only then realizing how close they are.

“No! Don’t let me stop you from snogging!”

In the meantime, Fred, Lee, and Nathan have come downstairs, only half-dressed. As they see George and Celeste’s red faces, Fred and Nathan look at each other before bursting out laughing.

“We weren’t snogging,” George says.

“We were just waiting for you to wake up,” Celeste adds. This is going to be fun.

“You don’t have to lie to us,” Lee says sweetly. “We all know you’re hopelessly in  _ love _ .”

Celeste and George turn even redder. If that’s even possible.

“Come on guys, no judging,” I say, laughing my head off. “At least George’s got a girlfriend. You could learn a thing or two from him.”

Now it’s George and Celeste’s turn to laugh at them. 

“And what about you then?” Fred taunts me. “You haven’t even kissed a guy yet.”

I open my mouth to say something but close it again and bite my lip instead. It’s probably not a good idea to tell them that I gave my first kiss to Draco Malfoy.

“Oh, My Merlin!” Celeste exclaims as she looks at me. “You  _ did _ kiss a guy! And you didn’t tell me anything?!”

She knows me too well. 

“You had your first kiss?” I hear Sandra ask from behind me. I turn around to see her standing on the stairs with Hermione and Ginny.

“Who was the lucky guy?” Ginny squeals as she pulls me on the couch next to Celeste who is now almost sitting on George’s lap.

I almost tell them there was no one, as I get a sudden idea.

“Sorry guys, I gotta go. I promised I’d eat my breakfast with Emily.” I get up before anyone can hold me down on the couch and run out of the common room.

As I get to the Great Hall, I almost run into Draco. He steadies me as I almost fall over.

**Draco’s pov**

As I see Ember fall, my body just seems to react on its own. 

“You okay?” I ask her as I help her get onto her feet again before letting her go. I look her up and down, making sure she isn’t hurt. Honestly, after our kiss those few days ago, I’ve been catching myself thinking about it. Often.

“Yeah, but we have to talk,” she tells me before dragging me over to an empty classroom. She locks the door and turns to me.

I just say the first thing that comes to my mind. “No one can know what happened a few days ago.”

She sighs. “I know, and it can’t happen again either.”

This takes me back a little. I wouldn’t mind if it happened again.

“Look, we’ve just gotta live with it. It’s not going to work anyway. My friends hate you and your whole family and most people in your house probably can’t stand me. This was a one-time thing, nothing more.”

“What if we want it to be more?” I ask her. She seems surprised by the question.

“What do you mean?”

“Aren’t you always talking about how you don’t care what other people think? How do you know this isn’t going to work if we don’t try?”

Ember laughs mockingly. “Don’t you remember? The only reason I kissed you was to save my owl. That’s all there is to it.” 

She’s about to walk out of the room as I say, “so why did you let me take it a step further with you?”

**Ember’s pov**

That one sentence is enough to stop me in my tracks.

“What do you mean?” I ask him. 

“You liked kissing me. Don’t try to deny it.”

“So what if I liked it,” I say reluctantly. “That doesn’t mean I like you.”

“And you won’t know if you do if we don’t try right?”

Okay, now he’s just grasping at straws. But I kinda like it.

I can feel myself smile. “You know what? Why not? I could use a laugh. Let’s go out sometime.”

With that I walk out of the classroom and go to sit with Emily, leaving Draco alone with his thoughts.

**Draco’s pov**

As I’m watching Ember walk back to the Great Hall, there’s only one thing I can think about.

_ I have a date with Ember! _


	11. The Triwizard Tournament

**Ember**

“Hey Ember,” Emily greets me as I sit down next to her. “Aren’t you sitting with your usual group?”

“Nah, I wanted to sit somewhere else for a change,” I say smiling. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“‘Course not, I actually wanted to talk to you,” she tells me. “About what I said a few days ago. I’m sorry if I scared you or something, but I’m not sorry I said anything.”

I smile at her. “It’s okay, you just spoke your mind. But please understand that it’s hard for me to believe you.”

She smiles too. “I get it. Anyway, it’s getting closer and closer to Hallowe’en which means the Triwizard Tournament is going to begin very soon.”

“What do you think those other schools’ students will be like?” I ask.

“I hope they’re nice,” the black-haired girl sitting next to me, says.

“I hope they’ve got some cute boys,” Emily says with a smile on her face. “I could do with some new victims.”

We laugh. “You are the only one I know that would say something like that,” I tell her.

When we’ve eaten enough, we stand up to leave the Hall. As Celeste sees us get up, she taps Sandra on the shoulder and they race off to catch us before we’re gone.

“Hey Emily,” Celeste says as she locks arms with me, enabling me to escape. “Long time no see.”

The four of us just walk out of the Hall when she asks the question I was afraid she would ask. “Do you know who Ember’s new boyfriend is?”

“Wait, you have a boyfriend?” Emily exclaims as she turns to look me in the eye. “Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

“I didn’t have to,” I say quickly. “All because I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Then who did you kiss? Because we know you kissed someone,” Sandra insists.

Emily squeals. “You finally had your first kiss? What was it like? Who was it with? What did you-”

“Breathe,” I tell her as she’s rambling on and on.

She takes in a few breaths before she starts talking again. “But seriously though, who did you kiss?” 

“We gotta go to class,” I say quickly as I see the rest of our class walking up to our classroom. I quickly run after them, closely followed by my three friends.

“You’ll tell us eventually,” Emily whispers to me as we reach our classroom. Celeste, Emily, and I say goodbye to Sandra who has Herbology. After that, I’m going to sit next to Nathan before Celeste and Emily can stop me. 

“Morning,” I greet him as I plant my back against the cool castle wall.

“You too, again,” he tells me. “Had enough of my sis?”

“For now, maybe,” I tell him. If this is what it’s going to be like, me going out with Draco, then I don’t know if I want to. Maybe this whole going out thing was one big mistake.

**Draco**

The day seems to go by a lot faster than usual. One moment I’m laughing with Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle at some kids whose books are floating in the air, courtesy of yours truly, and the next moment I’m walking away from Care for Mythical Creatures and back towards the castle.

As we enter the Entrance Hall we find that a big group of people has hurdled around some kind of sign, standing near the stairs.

Pushing everyone out of the way, Crabbe and Goyle easily get us to the front of the group. I quickly let my eyes scan the sign.

_ Triwizard Tournament _

_ The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o’clock on Friday 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast. _

“A feast?” Crabbe asks, licking his lips.

“That means there’s gonna be a lot of food,” Goyle says, reading his mind.

I just roll my eyes, seriously one day they’ll explode if they keep eating the way they do. I turn around and leave them gaping at the sign. Just one more week before the Tournament’s going to start. I wonder what it’ll be like.

************************************************

The next week seems to fly by in a daze. Ember and I don’t speak or see each other at any time during it, though I’ve really tried to get her to talk to me. She just always seems to find an excuse to avoid me. I really don’t get what her problem is.

**Ember**

Every time I see Draco I just try to get away as fast as I can. I don’t know what else to do. I’m still not sure if I want to go through with that date and the girls don’t really make my decision any easier. They keep asking about the boy I kissed though I keep telling them I’m not going to tell them. I finally stopped trying to deny it after about the 100th time they asked about it.

Today, it’s the 30th of October which means that the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will arrive in only a few hours. Walking down the corridors, you can’t hear anyone talking about anything else but the start of the Tournament.

I personally couldn’t care less about the Tournament, I’m more interested in the other schools and the students, wondering what they look like, what kind of people they are. 

The day seems to go by even slower than the whole week has gone. It seems to take ages for the last class to be over.

I jump out of my seat as soon as professor Flitwick tells us we’re free to go.

I make my way up to my room, dump my stuff as fast as I can and dart back down again, into the Entrance Hall with the other students. As I jump the last few steps I see professor McGonagall already busy organizing our House, while the other Heads of the Houses do the same with their House.

When she’s finally satisfied with the result, Professor McGonagall motions for us to follow her.

We end up standing right next to the Slytherins. And, me just having the worst luck ever, I end up standing right next to Draco.

“You’ve been ignoring me,” he says so softly that only I can hear him.

“Why would you think that?” I ask him innocently.

He gives me a disbelieving look. “I’m not stupid, you know.”

I sigh. “I just have a lot on my mind and I need time to figure everything out.”

We’re pulled out of our conversation as we hear Dumbledore say, “unless I’m very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches.”

Everyone starts to look around frantically, trying to be the first to spot them. 

“There!” A sixth-year suddenly yells, pointing at the sky above the Forest. And as I look up I see something enormous coming closer by the minute. 

“It’s a flying house!” A cute, small first-year named Dennis Creevey squeals.

As it comes closer it becomes obvious that he’s only half right.

It turns out to be a carriage pulled by horses the size of small elephants, the carriage itself is even bigger. As the carriage comes to a halt, a boy in pale blue robes jumps out and unfolds some steps. He then steps back. Slowly a woman emerges from the carriage, but she isn’t a normal woman. She’s easily as tall as Hagrid and she’s kinda pretty, with her olive-colored skin and deep, black eyes. 

Slowly, Dumbledore begins to clap and soon everyone is clapping for her. As Dumbledore and her talk for a while, I kinda zone out, looking around to see if I can spot the Durmstrang students or anything.

As the Beauxbatons students get inside everyone turns their attention back to looking out for the other school.

Suddenly a soft buzzing starts to sound.

“Can you hear that?” I ask Draco, making sure I’m not going crazy.

Before he can say anything though, Lee yells from behind me, “The lake!”

As we look we see a ship starting to rise from the depths of the lake.

The Durmstrang students have arrived.

**Draco**

Everyone seems to stare in awe as the Durmstrang ship rises out of the lake. When it’s fully emerged, the ship gracefully glides towards the bank. With a splash, the anchor is lowered and a plank is extended to the shore.

One by one, people start disembarking the ship. As they come closer, I can see they’re dressed in some kind of cloak, made from fur or something like that.

The only person wearing something else is the man walking in front of them, Igor Karkaroff. His cloak isn’t shaggy like those of the students, but is a shiny silver, just like his hair. He looks tall and slender, a little like Dumbledore. His hair and goatee are looking perfect. He looks just like Father told me he would.

As he shakes Dumbledore’s hand, he smiles and says something, but from where I stand I can’t hear what.

“What do you think he’s talking about?” I hear Ember ask. As I look at her, I see that her eyes are fixated on Karkaroff.

“Don’t know. Probably just small talk.” 

We watch as he gestures at one of his students. With his head held high, the student walks forward into the light of the lanterns.

He has slightly long, black hair, a big nose, and thick, black eyebrows that stand above brownish eyes.

“Viktor Krum,” I whisper. 

“Who’s that?” Ember asks. 

“He’s a very famous Quidditch player. He caught the snitch at the World Cup Finale.”

All around us, everyone has started to whisper. Guess I’m not the only one who recognized him.

“I don’t get the big deal,” Ember says, studying Krum closely as the Durmstrang students walk past.

I can see some of those boys look her way.

**Ember**

I really don’t get why everyone acts so weird. I mean he’s also just a student, like us, right? So what if he’s famous? Harry is too, but do you see anyone drooling over him? I don’t think so.

After all the Durmstrang students have passed us, we slowly walk after them back inside with the rest of the Hogwarts students.

All around us, I hear the excited chatter of the other students, but I don’t pay any attention to it. All I can think about is how close I’m walking to Draco. It just feels right somehow and as I realize this, I finally make the decision I’ve been putting off for a week. I’m gonna do it, I’m going on a date with Draco!

As we walk into the Great Hall, which has been decorated with all kinds of silk banners for every House, we both walk to our own table, not giving each other as much as a backward glance. Still, as Draco walks past me, his hand brushes mine slightly. I can’t help but smile a bit when I go to sit with Fred, George, and Lee.

“What’s got you all happy?” Fred asks suspiciously.

“Why’d you wanna know?” I ask him.

“Just… curious,” he says slowly, shrugging his shoulders, though I see his muscles tense a little.

“Are you jealous?” I ask teasing. To my surprise I see him go slightly red. “Oh my Merlin, you really are jealous!”

“No, I’m not!” He exclaims getting even redder.

“You so are!” I tell him.

Instead of getting into a discussion he quickly changes the subject. “What is Filch doing?”

The four of us look at the staff table where Filch, the castle’s caretaker, is adding chairs. Strangely enough, he’s adding four chairs instead of two to the table, two on each side of professor Dumbledore’s chair. 

“Maybe he forgot how to count,” Lee suggests.

“Right,” I say, sarcasm heavy in my voice. “I know Filch isn’t the brightest of the bunch but he isn’t a moron. I’m wondering who else is coming.”

As the last people get a seat at their table all teachers enter and take their seats at the staff table. Last to enter the Hall are Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. Out of nowhere, all the Beauxbatons students stand up when they see their Headmistress. I hear Fred and George snickering beside me and I send them a death glare.

“What’d you think you’re doing?” I hiss at them. “That’s really disrespectful, you know.”

“Jeesh, sorry Ember,” George quickly says.

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Fred says at the same time.

I roll my eyes at them. Boys.

We turn back to the staff table as the whole Hall goes silent. Dumbledore is standing in front of his chair, ready to give another speech.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and- most particularly- guests.” At this, he lets his eyes go around the whole room, especially targeting the visiting students. “I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable.”

At this, one of the Beauxbatons girls lets out a sarcastic laugh.

“The Tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourself at home.”

As he sits down the plates in front of us fill with food. Apart from the usual food, there are also a lot of foreign types of food. Before I get any food on my plate I lift my goblet, which is filled with pumpkin juice, and toast with the boys.

“To a fun Tournament,” I say as we clink our goblets.

I look at Draco as I say this and almost unnoticeably he lifts his goblet before he takes a sip.

**Draco**

I raise my goblet slightly as I see Ember make a toast, looking her right in the eye. During the meal, I try to talk to Victor Krum but he just grunts his reply and goes on eating. After some time trying, I decide to give up and look around the Hall instead.

As I look at the staff table I just see two men arrive. One is plump, with blond hair and he is wearing something that looks like Quidditch robes a few sizes too small. The other is wearing wizard’s robes, his black and grey hair neatly parted and his toothbrush mustache trimmed. I immediately recognise them from when Father introduced me to them, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch. They’re both Ministers at the Ministry of Magic. And if Father is right, which he usually is, they were the ones that set this whole thing up.

After the desserts have appeared and disappeared again Dumbledore stands up.

“The moment has come. The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket, just to clarify the procedure which we will be following this year. But firstly, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation and Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports.”

For both men is a round of applause, though Mr Bagman obviously gets a louder one. 

“Mr Bagman and Mr Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on the panel which will judge the champions’ efforts.”

Everyone gets extra quiet at those words and Dumbledore smiles. “The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch.”

Filch comes walking up to Dumbledore with a big wooden chest, decorated with jewels.

“The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr Crouch and Mr Bagman and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways… their magical prowess- their daring- their power of deduction- and, of course, their ability to cope with danger. 

“As you know, three champions compete in the Tournament. One from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector… the Goblet of Fire.”

Dumbledore takes out his wand and taps the chest three times. As it opens Dumbledore reaches inside and takes out a big, wooden cup. The cup itself isn’t really special, it’s the blue-white flames that stick out that make it remarkable. Closing the chest, Dumbledore puts the goblet on top of it.

“Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a strip of parchment and drop it into the Goblet. Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, on Hallowe’en, the Goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The Goblet will be placed in the Entrance Hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

“To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the Entrance Hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line. Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this Tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the Tournament through to the end. 

“The placing of your name in the Goblet constitutes as a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you’re wholeheartedly prepared to play, before you drop your name into the Goblet. Now, I think it is time to go to bed. Goodnight to you all.”

Everyone starts leaving the Hall and together with Crabbe and Goyle I walk to the Slytherin dungeon. The Triwizard Tournament has finally begun.


	12. Hallowe'en

**Ember**

The next day I wake up early and as I get downstairs in the common room I can see Michael pacing up and down the room, his head hanging down. It’s clear that something is stressing him out.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I walk towards him.

His head shoots up and his eyes settle on me. “What?” He asks absentmindedly.

“Stop pacing and sit down for a moment, will you?” I ask him, lightly taking his arm and directing him to one of the red couches.

I sit down first, patting the seat next to me. Quickly, Michael sits down too. “Now, tell me what’s going on,” I demand.

“It’s the Tournament,” he says slowly. “I just don’t know if I should enroll anymore, I mean I want to, but you heard what Dumbledore said.”

“You mean about how a lot of people have died?”

“Something like that,” he tells me reluctantly. “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

I sigh. “Honey, let me ask you something. Who are people always coming to for help?”

“Me,” he says reluctantly.

“And who is the person always ready to help me get the twins out of trouble?”

“Which ones?” he jokes, though his smile falls as soon as it appears.

I laugh. “Either.”

“Well, me, I guess.”

“Michael, I’m telling you from the bottom of my heart. You’re the best student here that I know of. And I don’t think Dumbledore would allow the Tournament to happen if he wasn’t sure it would be safe to enter. Still, it’s your choice if you want to compete or not.”

Michael seems a bit more relaxed, though he still clenches his hands together and I have to grab them to stop him from cutting off the blood flow to them.

I make him look in my eyes. “Michael, is something else bugging you?”

We’re sitting very close together and he surprises me by kissing me on the mouth. As I register what’s happening, I push him away from me and stand up.

“What was that?” I growl, running a hand through my hair.

Michael seems as shocked as I am. “I-I don’t know. I just thought-”

“Thought  _ what _ ? That I wouldn’t mind one of my best friends kissing me? You’re out of your mind.”

With that, I run out of the common room, not able to stay in one room with him any longer.

**Draco**

I’m already in the Great Hall eating my breakfast when Ember bursts in, looking freaked out.

“What’s wrong with  _ her _ ?” Pansy sneers from beside me. She’s always been jealous of Ember, though she’d never admit it.

“Don’t know.” My eyes never leave Ember as she goes to sit at the Gryffindor table. Strangely enough, her friends are nowhere to be seen. 

After a few minutes she’s still sitting alone and I start wondering what’s wrong. I try to catch her eye, but she keeps turning away.

“I forgot something in my room,” I say standing up.

“Want me to come with you?” Pansy asks immediately.

“No, it’ll only take a second.” I walk away abruptly and walk around the Slytherin table, past the Gryffindor table where I lightly pull Ember’s hair when I pass her.

She looks back at me angrily, but gets up and follows me.

We enter the same classroom as before. Once we’re both inside and when the door is locked I turn to Ember.

“Okay, spill it. What’s got you so down?”

She just sighs. “It’s none of your business.”

“It is if it makes you grumpy.”

“Don’t poke your nose in other people’s business!” She suddenly yells.

**Ember**

The second I yell it I regret it.

“Sorry,” I say quickly. “I didn’t mean-”

“Yes, you did. If you don’t want my help you can just say it like any other sane person.” With that, he storms out of the room. 

Ugh, I’m such an idiot.

Suddenly I hear someone laughing. I make my way back to the Entrance Hall where the Goblet of Fire stands, just in time to see Lee, Fred, and George walking towards it.

I make my way over to them and pull them aside.

“What are you trying to do?” I ask them quietly.

“What do you think we’re doing?” Fred asks back. “We’re going to enter the Tournament.”

“How? Don’t you remember the Age Line, running around the thing?”

Fred snorts. “Don’t you think we’ve thought of that? We’ve just taken our Ageing Potion.”

“What’s wrong with you?” I ask him, getting angry. “Why’re you acting so cold?”

“Why don’t you ask your new boyfriend?” He sneers as he walks away with Lee and George who look at me apologetically.

“That won’t work,” I say to them before they follow Fred. 

My mind is racing. What is he talking about? Does he know about me kissing Draco? Or our date? Did Draco tell him about it? 

I’m roughly shaken from my thoughts when I hear Fred shout victorious.

I look up just fast enough to see George walk up to Fred, who is making his way to the Goblet. Right before Lee can follow him, I grab the back of his shirt, making sure he can’t go any further and it’s a good thing I did because a moment later Fred and George get blasted off their feet, landing 10 feet further.

As they get up two identical, plain white beards start to grow on their faces. It looks so funny that Lee and I can’t do anything but laugh and soon everyone in the Entrance Hall is laughing. Once they take a good look at each other Fred and George join in.

“I did warn you,” A deep, amused voice says from the Great Hall. As I turn towards the sound I see Dumbledore standing there. “I suggest you both go up to Madame Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett and Mister Summers, both of which decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards looks as good as yours.”

Lee and I are still laughing as we make our way to the twins and start leading them to the hospital wing.

On our way there, we walk past Michael. He seems to want to talk to me but I just turn him the cold shoulder and keep walking. From the corner of my eye, I see Fred look at me suspiciously.

As we get into the hospital wing, they both get pointed to a bed. Lee stays with George while I go with Fred. He still seems mad about something.

“Can you just tell me what you’re so mad about?” I ask him.

He grunts. “Nothing.”

“Please Fred.” I look at him with my best puppy dog eyes. “Could you please tell me?”

“Why did you kiss Michael?” He asks softly.


	13. Scaring competition

**Ember**

I look at Fred in shock.

“What are you talking about?” I stutter.

“Don’t deny it. I saw you two in the common room,” Fred growls.

“What you saw was Michael kissing  _ me _ . And I pushed him off right after,” I tell him. 

“Don’t act like you didn’t want to kiss him,” Fred says, still sounding angry.

“I  _ didn’t _ !” I cry out. “And I don’t. He’s my friend, nothing more.”

“Nothing more?” Fred asks, his voice all of a sudden a lot more quiet.

“Nothing more,” I say, smiling at him. Slowly a small smile appears on his face as well.

“So you turned him down. How’d he take that?” Fred asks, now smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I kinda ran out after I screamed at him and I don’t really feel like talking to him right now.”

“Then you should talk to me instead.”

That’s how we spend some time until Madame Pomfrey comes to fix him up.

**Draco**

To keep up appearances I make my way to the Slytherin dungeon and quickly take a book from my room, not even bothering to see what it is about.

All I can think about is Ember’s reaction. How dare she flare out like that when I go out of my way to try and help her. I really don’t get girls.

As I walk back to the Great Hall I run into one of Ember’s friends, I think his name is Mike or something.

“Watch it,” I snap at him.

He just shakes his head and looks at something behind him. I can’t resist the temptation and follow his gaze. As I see what, or rather,  _ who _ he’s looking at I have to try hard not to gasp.

Those Weasley twins are walking down the staircase, together with that weird friend of theirs and Ember. Looking at the longing on his face I can see that the guy doesn’t want anything as bad as to go with them, but something stops him from going. Seeing the tense muscles in Ember’s back and her clenched fists I get a slight idea why she might have been mad.

“You hurt her, didn’t you?” I taunt the guy. He may be older and bigger than me, but I have the upper hand in a public area.

He looks at me with hatred in his eyes, I don’t really care. I get that look most of the time. “Never.”

“You did something,” I say, a sarcastic smile on my face. “It’s all over your face.”

“I may, I may not, what do you care?” he asks.

“I was just thinking, what would all your friends think if they know you did anything to damage her, somehow?” I see his face contract. 

“What do you mean?” He asks, eyeballing me.

“Well, what if someone is to tell them all about that awful something you did. What do you think will happen?”

“They’ll never believe you,” he dares.

“Who is to say that I’ll be the one telling them. You probably know about Professor Snape’s potion cabinet. I just need to have the right potion and you’ll be telling them all yourself.”

His face seems to be drained of color. “What do you want?”

“Good choice. What I want is for you to leave Ember alone.”

He snorts. “Why would you want that?”

I think quickly. “Why do you want to know why I want what I want? This is something between me and  _ her _ .” I sneer as I say ‘her’, making it seem like I hate her. 

“You want her to be alone, don’t you?” he asks. I really should become an actor or something.

“None of your business. Now run along and go do what you came to do.” I walk away towards the Great Hall, not waiting for that guy to say or do anything. 

Maybe this will brighten Ember’s mood.

**Ember**

In no time, we’re standing outside the hospital wing, Fred and George now beardless.

“What are we going to do now?” George asks.

“Well, it  _ is _ Hallowe’en, isn’t it?” Lee says. “I heard of this Muggle tradition where people dress up and go about scaring each other. We can do that.”

“Well actually-” I start but I can see the evil plans form in their heads. I roll my eyes. “Whatever. Come with me.”

I lead them to the Gryffindor tower and tell them to go to their bedroom and wait for me. I run up to my own room to get what I need before joining them. 

“I’ve got some things for you,” I tell them as I hand Lee a black cape and Fred a black, long-sleeved dress with a hoodie.

“What about me?” George asks.

I point my wand at him and say, “ _ Colovaria _ .” Immediately, his robes turn almost translucent, though, luckily, we can’t  _ really _ see through it.

“What are you planning?” Lee asks, a wicked smile on his face.

“You can’t do this without good costumes, can you?” I ask innocently.

“But how am I ever going to fit in these?” Fred asks, holding up my dress.

“Easy,” I tell him. I point my wand at the dress and say, “ _ Engorgio _ .” I keep pointing my wand until it’s just the right size for Fred.

“Now, it won’t be any problem to put it on, right?” I ask Fred. As he shakes his head, I turn to Lee. “You still need a black shirt and pants but I thought you might have some yourself.”

He nods and starts to look through his stuff.

“While he’s busy with that and Fred’s putting on his costume we’re gonna start with the next phase,” I tell George. “Make-up.”

I push him onto his bed and take out my make-up kit. I use  _ Colovaria _ to make his hair white and go on to make all his exposed skin as pale as possible. Then I use a grey eye pencil to add some shading.

“Done,” I say after a while.

George stands up and walks to the mirror while Fred goes to sit in front of me, still looking at his brother. “My turn!”

I hear George gasp in surprise as he sees himself in the mirror and smile. “I hope you like it,” I say as I start making Fred’s skin a scabby grey. I go on to make his hands look all bone-like and skinny. Lastly, I use  _ Colovaria _ to make his hair black and pull the hoodie of the dress over his head.

“Next,” I say as Lee pulls Fred off the bed to sit down himself.

“Now me.”

I laugh and start putting his hair in a low ponytail. Then I go on to make his skin pale and use  _ Densaugeo _ to make his teeth into fangs. Lastly, I use  _ Colovaria _ on his eyes to make them totally black.

Lee seems to look around confused for a while. 

“Are you okay?” I ask alarmed.

“Yeah,” he says smiling. “Everything just seems a bit darker all of a sudden. It’s cool.”

He walks over to the mirror where Fred and George are still admiring themselves.

“Are you guys pleased with what you see?” I ask laughing.

“Yeah, thank Ember!” The three of them say. 

“Now, let’s make some trouble,” Lee says, flashing his fangs.

This is going to be epic.

**********************

“Aren’t you going to dress up?” George asks as I walk in front of them down the stairs.

I laugh. “Nope, I’ll be a good girl and watch while you scare everyone shitless.”

“That really sounds like something a ‘good’ girl would do,” Fred says laughing.

“I know right.” I skip into the common room, looking if anyone is there. Unfortunately, no one is.

“Clear!” I call up to the three boys. As they come down I put on my serious face and start my speech. “Well, boys, outside that door-” I point at the back of the Fat Lady’s portrait. “-Are a lot of unsuspecting victims. But whatever you do, don’t let the teachers catch you, especially Moody, you never know what he’ll do. Now, let the scaring begin!”

I push open the portrait and the boys jump out, scaring a group of first year girls, who were about to enter the common room.

Laughing, the boys run off and I run after them, after having helped up the girls and apologizing for the boys.

I finally catch up to them as they’re scaring Emily, Sandra and Celeste.

“George!” Celeste shrieks as she sees who they are. “What are you doing?”

He smiles sheepishly. “Just doing what I’m told.”

“Who told you to scare us like that?” She says, her hands on her hips.

I see him struggle and decide to help him. I skip towards them and link my arms through Fred and George’s. “Do you guys like my handiwork?” I ask innocently.

Celeste looks from George to me. “You told them to scare us?”

“Never,” I say, letting go of George to place a hand over my heart. “All I did was dress them up.” I look at the three girls. “Do you like it, though?”

Celeste looks at Sandra and Emily and for a moment I’m afraid the guys angered them but as she looks back at us, she has a huge grin on her face. “They’re wicked.” 

She starts going through her purse. “Something’s missing though.” 

She takes a metallic-colored eye pencil out of her bag and makes her way over to George.

“What are you going to do?” George asks, edging away from her. 

“Just stay still,” she tells him as she stands on her tiptoes to get a good look of his face. She lightly turns his face to the side and starts drawing.

As I figure out what she’s trying to do I walk up to her and look through her purse to find another pencil. This one is silver.

“Give me your hand,” I tell him. He obeys with only a slight hesitation.

I turn his hand so his palm is up and roll up his shirt a bit. Then I start drawing a small line on his wrist, making little blood-like stripes tracing down his hands. When I’m done with one hand I go on to the next. In the meantime, Celeste is busy with the other side of his face.

The rest is waiting patiently to see what we’re doing.

As I finish working on his hands I look at Celeste to see how far she is. When she’s done, she looks back at me and nods. Together we take a few steps back from George to show the others what we did.

George now has multiple cuts and bruises on his face, like he’d been fighting, and his wrists look like they’ve been slit. 

“So, what do you think?”

Fred and Lee have evil grins plastered on their face. “Perfect.”

For a few hours the seven of us roam the school, the boys trying to scare as many people as they can, making a competition of it. 

“Twenty four!” George yells, when two girls run off, screaming their lungs out.

“Still not enough,” Fred taunts. At the moment, he’s leading with twentynine after he scared a whole group of Hufflepuff third years, though after that he had to run for his life because the boys from that group started to chase him.

As I look at my watch I see that it’s already 5:00 pm.

“We probably should get you boys cleaned up,” I tell them, stopping them from getting into a fight.

“Why?” Fred whines.

“It’s almost time,” I say laughing. “I don’t think the professors would be too pleased if they saw you sitting in the Great Hall dressed like that.”

“Can’t we do one last scare?” Lee asks.

“Why can’t we scare the people that are already in the Great Hall?” Sandra asks casually.

I can see a plan form in Celeste's twisted mind. “I have an idea, but I will need your help,” she says, turning to me.

**Draco**

I’m sitting with Crabbe and Goyle in the Great Hall when I see Ember storming in through the double doors, closing them behind her.

To get the attention of all the people currently in the Hall she whistles as loud as she can.

“You guys, come quickly! It’s urgent.”

She looks freaked out so everyone makes their way over to her as fast as they can.

“What’s wrong?” A fifth year Ravenclaw asks her.

“Did something happen to the Goblet of Fire?” A seventh year Hufflepuff screeches.

Ember shakes her head. “No,” she says loudly and suddenly I don’t trust this. She motions for us to get closer to her and the doors that are still closed. “It’s something way worse.” As she says this, I see a faint smile on her face and right after that the doors burst open and three figures burst in, screaming like crazy.

Of course, total chaos happens and it takes some time for me to see what exactly everyone is running from. Running after the other students are a vampire, a dementor, and a ghost.

As I realize this, something pops into my mind. Dementors and ghosts don’t run!

I grab a book and throw it at the ‘ghost’ hitting it right in the back of his knees but instead of going through him, it hits him and he goes down, falling right on top of the girl he’d been chasing.

“Who threw that?” The ‘ghost’ asks angrily as he gets up and grabs the book. “Who?!”

Up close I realize he’s one of the Weasleys. I almost didn’t recognize him without his red hair.

“Look who we’ve got here,” I call out. “Seems like we’ve got a Weasley in our midst. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that the vampire and dementor are your brother and that weird friend of yours.”

“I’m not weird!” The ‘vampire’ calls out.

“Be glad I don’t pump you full of garlic,  _ vampire _ ,” I say sarcastically.

“Did you throw this?” The Weasley asks, pissed.

I’m about to answer when Ember appears from out of nowhere.

“Stop it, you guys.” I can’t help but feel her eyes linger on me. “You three-” she points to the Weasley twins and their friend. “Are coming with me to change back into your  _ normal _ robes. And  _ you _ -” at this she turns to me. “Are going to go back to your table and continue whatever you were doing.”

With that she walks towards the Entrance Hall, closely followed by those three idiots after they send me a hateful look, which I happily return.

“Come on,” I tell Crabbe and Goyle. “We’ve got better things to do.”


	14. The choosing of the champions

**Ember**

I take the boys back to their bedroom and, with some help from Sandra and Celeste, start taking all the makeup off of them.

Celeste already turned George’s hair back to its natural fiery color and is now busy getting all of the make-up off of his face. 

Sandra is busy shrinking Lee’s teeth with a little bit of his help. 

“The spell you use is  _ Reducio _ ,” he tells her as he shows her the hand movement. “Just make sure your aim is right. I don’t want baby teeth.”

I can’t help but laugh as I imagine Lee with miniature teeth.

“Having fun?” Fred asks me, looking amused.

“Just imaging what Lee would look like with baby teeth,” I tell him and soon we’re both laughing.

“You’re right,” he tells me, holding his sides. “That  _ would _ be funny.”

As they’re finally looking like their normal self, I instruct them to put on their school robes again.

“And what about  _ my _ robes?” George asks, gesturing at the robes that still look translucent.

I smile and turn them back to their original state with a swing of my wand. “You’re welcome,” I say as I walk out of the room after Sandra and Celeste. “Be downstairs in ten minutes max.”

We haven’t been waiting for longer than five minutes when the three guys walk downstairs again.

“What are we still doing here?” Lee asks, not even waiting until we stand up, before walking out of the common room.

“Wait for us,” Sandra calls after him as the three of us together with Fred and George start chasing him.

**Draco**

I’m looking at Filch as he’s struggling to move the Goblet from its place in the Entrance Hall to the empty space in front of Dumbledore’s chair.

_ If only he had magic, _ I think to myself laughing. The stupid squib is now just blowing out his own back. I smirk, thinking about this as I see Ember walking back into the Great Hall, laughing and talking to her friends.

As she turns her head and looks at me I’m surprised to see her wink at me before turning back to her friends.

She goes to sit at the Gryffindor table with her back to me. Not soon after Potter enters the hall with that blood traitor and mudblood close behind. 

Of course, I only notice this because Ember looks up as they come in.

**Ember**

I look up as Harry, Hermione and Ron walk into the Great Hall.

“Hey guys,” I call them over. “What’ve you been up to? Haven’t seen you after this morning.”

“We’ve been at Hagrid’s the whole day,” Hermione tells us. “Did you all do anything interesting?”

I share a look with the twins, Celeste and Sandra before George says, “nothing special.”

“Yeah, just a normal Hogwarts day,” Celeste adds, trying to look innocent.

The three look at us suspiciously before Ron asks, “who do you think is going to be the Hogwarts champion?”

“I hope it’s going to be Angelina,” Fred says, talking about the dark-skinned, brown-haired sixth year Gryffindor, who’s also part of the Gryffindor Quidditch team like Fred, George, and Harry.

“Me too,” Hermione says, sounding very excited.

“We’ll just have to see,” I say casually as the teachers start to take their places at the staff table.

As soon as Dumbledore finishes his Hallowe’en speech the tables begin to fill with a whole feast, just like yesterday. As the evening drags on, all around the air starts to fill with excited whispers, and when the last food finally disappears everyone turns silent waiting for what’s going to happen next.

Dumbledore slowly gets to his feet. “Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision,” he says, smiling down at us. “I think it’ll be one more minute. When the champions’ names are called, I would ask them to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber-” he points at a door behind the staff table. “-here they will be receiving their first instructions.”

With a wave of his wand, he puts out all the lights in the Great Hall, except the ones burning away in the pumpkins which are spread all through the Hall.

The Goblet starts burning brighter and brighter. Suddenly, it erupts in red flames, and a piece of paper flutters through the air.

Before it can get very far, Dumbledore catches it and reads out loud, “The champion for Durmstrang… is Viktor Krum.”

Everyone starts clapping as the boy from yesterday stands up and starts making his way to the ‘champion’ room.

As everyone turns their attention back to the Goblet, which fire has turned blue again, it gets quiet again. Not soon after, the fire flashes bright red again and another piece of paper flies out of it.

“The champion for Beauxbatons,” Dumbledore says as he reads the paper. “-Is Fleur Delacour.”

Another round of applause rings through the Hall. As Fleur is gone everyone goes quiet again, now staring at the Goblet, wanting it to take less time deciding.

At last, the fire burns red and the paper flies out.

“The Hogwarts champion is-” Everyone leans forward to hear better. “-Cedric Diggory.”

The whole Hufflepuff table erupts in cheers, draining out any other noise. 

It takes Dumbledore a lot of effort to get the Hufflepuffs silent again. “Excellent!” He calls out as everyone’s finally silent. “Now we’ve got our three champions, I am sure that all of you will give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on you will contribute in a very real-”

Dumbledore stops in the middle of his sentence to stare at the Goblet of Fire and as I look at it, I can see why. Its fire has turned red again and from the fire comes a piece of paper.

Dumbledore snatches it from the air and looks at it carefully.

As he speaks, he says the two words I’d been afraid he would say.

“Harry Potter.”


	15. A lovely letter

**Ember**

I turn around to look at Harry who seems very surprised. He doesn’t seem to understand what’s just happened.

Right now, he doesn’t seem like someone who succeeded in putting his name in the Goblet while going around the Age Line.

Was he really the one who threw his name in the Goblet?

**Draco**

Seriously, him  _ again _ ? Why is it always Potter who gets everything he wants?

I look at Potter with a hatred even  _ I _ didn’t know I had.

“Harry Potter!” Dumbledore calls out again. “Harry, up here if you please!”

I look as that mudblood pushes him to go and laugh as he almost falls down as soon as he takes his first step towards the staff table.

Slowly, he walks towards Dumbledore who looks very stern, something that never happens. I smile at the thought of Potter being told off by Dumbledore, but instead, he gets told that he has to go after the other champions.

Why doesn’t he ever get in trouble?!

As Potter walks through the door into the other room Dumbledore turns to us. 

“Well, this has been an… unexpected evening, hasn’t it?” He says, seemingly looking for words. “I suggest you all go back to your common rooms for tonight and have a nice night.”

With that, he turns around, and together with the other headmasters, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch; he walks through the same door Potter had gone through.

No one knows what to do for a moment. Suddenly, Ember stands up and stalks out of the Hall, closely followed by the Weasley twins who are talking to each other about something.

Them leaving has set the rest of the students in action.

The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students get up and leave together while the rest of the Hogwarts students leave in small groups, talking to each other about what’d just happened.

I motion for Crabbe and Goyle to follow as I make my way out of the Great Hall.

“That twat always gets everything he wants,” I say, fuming with anger. “He really should learn that not the whole world is about him.”

I start to think up a plan to get back at Potter as we walk further and further down into the dungeon.

**Ember**

I’m already sitting in the Gryffindor common room as the rest of the Gryffindors start walking in. I lost Fred and George on my way here as they said they had to get something.

As I look around to see what everyone is doing I see Lee coming down the stairs leading to the boys’ dorms with some sort of banner in his hands.

In the meantime, Fred and George have entered the common room too, their arms full of all kinds of drinks and food which they dump on one of the tables on the side of the room.

Suddenly music starts blasting from out of nowhere and the party has started though I don’t really feel like it.

I’m just about to excuse myself when Harry comes through the portrait hole. He still seems to be in a bit of a trance as he gets pulled into the common room by Fred and George who congratulate him on becoming a champion, though I know they’d rather be the ones being congratulated right now.

I still think he doesn’t seem too happy to be a champion and seeing as he seems about ready to collapse I try to get to him to save him from the wave of people that are all trying to get close to him to congratulate him.

“Harry,” I whisper to him as I’m finally able to get to him after about 40 minutes of pushing through the crowd to get to him. “Come with me.”

I grab his arm and pull him to a somewhat more quiet place. 

“How are you doing?” I ask him.

“The truth or what I think you want to hear?” he asks me.

I smile. “The truth, if you please.”

He sighs. “I don’t know how I feel. I’d like to talk to Hermione or Ron but I can’t find them.”

“As far as I know they’ve both gone to their rooms, but-” I grab Harry’s arm before he can walk away. “-before I listen to any of the theories of the other students I need to know, you didn’t put your name in the Goblet, did you?”

Harry shakes his head. “I really didn’t.”

I smile. “Thought so. Now, you seem about ready to pass out so go to bed.”

I walk him to the stairs leading to his dorm so no one has a chance to pull him off again. After that, I make my way to my own room, which is luckily still empty. The other girls are probably still busy partying. 

I take a deep breath but as I look around the room, I realize I’m not alone. I find an eagle owl staring back at me from my desk, a letter tied to its leg.

“Hey boy,” I say, approaching it tentatively.

The owl hoots once before hopping onto my bed. He holds out his leg for me as I get closer to him.

I look at him a moment longer before smiling and sitting down next to him. Untying the letter with one hand, I give the owl a snack.

Opening up the letter I get a scent of lavender. 

_ Dear Ember, _

_ Would you do me the honor of going on a date with me? _

_ Next Saturday, the field behind Hagrid’s cabin, at half past twelve. _

_ I’ll be waiting for a reply. _

_ Draco _

I smile as I reread the letter. He really went through all the trouble to formally ask me on a date? That’s so sweet.

I quickly sit down at my desk and grab some paper.

_ Dear Draco, _

_ Of course, I would love to go on a date with you. _

_ I’ll be there. _

_ XXXX _

_ Ember _

I attach the letter back to the owl’s leg and, after I give him another snack, he flies off again.

After that, I change into a nightgown and jump into bed. Falling asleep with a smile on my face.


	16. A Slytherin date

**Draco**

The next day, I’m working tirelessly on my Plan for Potter. Sadly, it means I have to support a Hufflepuff but I will do just about anything to piss off Potter.

Yesterday, right after I figured out my Plan, I wrote a letter to Ember. Seeing as it hadn’t been past curfew yet I immediately took the letter to Raider, my owl.

He’s a black and dark-orange eagle owl, which I got from my parents when I was still very young.

I sent him right up to her room, not wanting anyone to know about it. I kept waiting for Raider to return and not more than 20 minutes later he returned with her answer. As I read it, I felt strangely happy.

Just thinking about it right now makes a smile appear on my face.

I shake my head. I have to focus on the task at hand.

I bend back over the still blank badges that are lying in front of me on the table and smile. They’re not going to stay blank for long if it’s up to me. Which it is.

Using different layers of magic, I create two very different messages on the badges.

As I finish I sigh. Time for a test run.

Right now, the badges look jet black with a glowing red text saying,  _ Support Cedric Diggory- the real Hogwarts champion! _

As I press my hand down on the badge, the red text dissolves and turns into a glowing green which now says  _ Potter stinks _ . 

I laugh, perfect. Quickly I go on making a whole bunch of them which I hand out to all the Slytherins I can find.

Together, we think up the plan to hand them out to the other Houses. But that’ll be something to do tomorrow.

I hadn’t realized I worked so long on these things that it’s almost curfew already. I was way too busy laughing at my own stroke of genius.

With a smile that I think might never go away, I start climbing the stairs leading up to my dorm. No doubt I’ll sleep  _ very _ well tonight.

**Ember**

The week seems to fly by. At least for me. I can see Harry struggle through the days, almost everybody seems to hate him ever since his name came out of the Goblet. Everyone except the Gryffindors, of course.

What doesn’t help either is that most of the other students have some weird badges. They’ve got two messages but both are supposed to hurt Harry. I’ve been trying to find out who made them but no one will tell me how they got them.

They just flash their  _ Support Cedric _ message and go on with their lives.

And if these things aren’t bad enough, there’s an even bigger problem, Ron  _ believes _ all the stories the other students are telling. He really thinks Harry put his own name in the Goblet.

Harry now just hangs around Hermione as much as he can. It’s really starting to look pathetic and it’s not even been a week.

I really don’t know what to think when I think about what the rest of the Tournament would look like with four champions instead of three. 

Luckily, today I don’t have to think about that. It’s finally Saturday and I’m getting ready for my date with Draco in a few hours.

Standing in front of my trunk I’m thinking about what to wear, eventually deciding on a pair of tight jeans and a light-blue crop top. To finish the outfit I put on a cute and, more importantly, warm, black leather jacket.

I don’t know what Draco’s got planned for today but I obviously hope it’s going to be fun. 

When it’s twelve o’clock I walk towards Hagrid’s cabin, go past it, and wait right on top of a hill, looking over the grounds.

**Drac**

Feeling a bit nervous, I walk down to Hagrid’s cabin, making sure no one sees me. While I’m walking, I quickly take off my Tournament badge and stuff it in my bag.

I’ve heard all about how furious Ember was where she first saw them and I don’t want her fury to be unleashed on me. No need for her to know I made these.

I am wearing simple black trousers and a plain, white shirt over which I wear a black, suede winter coat. Simple but stylish.

As I get closer to the cabin, I can already see Ember standing on a hill right behind it and I can’t help but smile. She looks beautiful.

“Hey you,” she says as I reach her.

“You ready?” I ask, with the same smile plastered on my face.

“Lead the way.”

I grab her hand and lead her further along the edge of the Forbidden Forest to a small patch of grass that’s surrounded by trees. No one ever comes here.

As we stand still, Ember twirls around to look at her surroundings.

“It’s beautiful here!” She exclaims. “How did you find this place?”

I shrug. “Don’t really remember. I just stumbled upon it a few years back. No one ever comes here so I thought it would be the perfect place for a secret picnic.”

Her eyes open wide. “A picnic?”

“Yeah,” I say, starting to doubt my decision. “At least, if you want to?”

She smiles sweetly. “Of course, I would love to have a picnic with you.”

I sigh in relief and start unpacking the basket I hid here beforehand, laying down a white blanket with dark- and light-green stripes. 

Then I start unloading the food which I got from the house-elves. There are different kinds of meat and bread, all kinds of sweets; and fruit.

We sit down together and just start eating while talking to each other like normal people would. I tell her about what it’s like to live with my parents as an only child and she tells me about what it’s like to live in an orphanage, though I think she’s holding some things back. We’re talking for hours and as the day starts to grow colder we hurdle closer together, trying to share each other’s warmth. 

“You know what?” She asks, looking me in the eye. “I’m really having fun.”

I don’t know what comes over me but I can feel my body bend towards her and before I know what I’m doing, I press my lips lightly on hers. At first her body tenses but then she relaxes into the kiss and not before long we’re snogging.

After what feels like a second but could easily have been several minutes, Ember slowly pulls away. Breathing slightly harder than before she says, “You do know how to keep a girl entertained, don’t you?”

She picks up a strawberry and bites it before standing up and stretching. She looks at her watch and says, “I think it’s time to go back.” She smiles as she looks down at me. “Next time, it’s my turn to think of something to do.”

“Next time?” I ask, a smile forming on my face.

“Yeah, next time.” With that she beams at me and walks away as I just sit there staring at her, not believing this is actually happening.


	17. Good advice?

**Ember**

For the next couple of days, I walk around with a permanent smile on my face. I try to make it seem casual but every once in a while, I can’t help but giggle a little. 

“What’s gotten into you?” Celeste asks one day while we’re busy doing our homework. “This Divination stuff is nothing to be happy about. I don’t get any of it.”

“It’s nothing,” I say quickly.

I may have been a bit too fast because now Celeste’s face lights up with a knowing smile. “It’s that guy you kissed, isn’t it?”

I smile mischievously at her. “Maybe, maybe not.”

She snorts. “Seriously Ember, when are you going to tell me who it is? We’re best friends, aren’t we?”

“Of course, we are. It’s just… I don’t know what to think of our relationship just yet and I want to know that before I start telling you any details.”

“You can’t even tell me his name?” Celeste pouts.

I laugh slightly. “Nope, and you know that doesn’t work on me. Just trust me when I say that I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

We’re working in silence after that for some time until Celeste slams her book shut.

“That’s it, I give up.” She throws her hands in the air, before standing up. “I’m going to bed.” She hugs me before taking her books and going upstairs.

As I’m getting all my things together, someone sits down next to me. As I turn towards the person I see that it’s George.

“Hey Ember,” he greets me, looking a bit shy, which is nothing like him.

“Hey,” I say, looking him over. “What’s wrong?”

“Why should anything be wrong?” he asks innocently.

I smile sweetly at him. “First of all, you’re acting totally out of character. Second of all, I’ve known you for a few years now, I know when something’s wrong. So tell me, what’s bugging you? Do I have to teach anyone any manners?”

He laughs. “It’s nothing like that. I just… need some advice.”

“Well, if that’s all you need, ask away.”

George scratches his neck. “The thing is, there’s this girl I like and I’d like to… ask her out. I just don’t know how.”

I keep smiling at him as I figure out what this must be about. “If you want to know  _ how _ to ask her out, I have this friend who loves guys that sweep her off her feet, guys who do something totally different. If you want to know if she  _ likes _ you, I’d say just ask her out. You’ll find out soon enough if she likes you, that way. But don’t go waiting for her to make the first move if you’re already sure you want to go out with her.”

He smiles as he pecks me on the cheek before jumping up, saying, “Thanks Ember, that helped a lot.”

Without another word, he turns around and sprints up the stairs leading to the boys’ dorms.

Snickering to myself, I grab all my books, my quill and ink; and Celeste’s notes, which she must’ve forgotten, and make my way to the dorms. As I walk into the room, I can see Celeste glaring at me from her bed.

“It’s George, isn’t it?” she asks. “It has been him, all this time.”

“What are you talking about?” 

“That’s why you’ve been so secretive,” she continues, not reacting to my comment. “You didn’t want me to know the guy you were secretly dating was him, even though you knew I liked him.”

As she starts raising her voice I try to calm her, not wanting our roommates to wake up. “Relax, Celeste. And please keep your voice down.”

“Why? So no one can hear how awful you really are?” Celeste asks, getting more and more worked up.

“You know what-” I drop her notes onto her bed, getting fed up as well. “-I don’t have to listen to this. Next time, I’ll think twice before helping your boyfriend because you can’t seem to handle it.”

I turn around to walk to the bathroom but before I do, I say, “And just so you know, Fred and George are like brothers to me, I’d never date, let alone kiss, either of them.”

I walk away from her, leaving her alone with her thoughts. How can she even think I’d go out with George, or Fred for that matter, it’s like her going out with Nathan. It’s totally wrong.

Fuming, I eventually get into bed without taking another look at her, but it takes a long while before I’m actually asleep.

***********************

A big stadium, that’s the first thing I see. The inside of which is filled with rocks and boulders. All around it are benches with people on them though I can’t see their faces. 

A person walks into the stadium which is suddenly filled with fire.  Though I try my absolute best, I can't make out their face, it looks like it's hidden in absolute darkness.  The person grabs something from the middle of the stadium before leaving again. 

Then another person comes in, and the fire comes again. This person also grabs something from the middle of the stadium before leaving again.

A third person comes in and the cycle begins again. After this person has left, however, I finally see a face appearing. It’s Harry. 

He seems to look around for a moment, taking in the rocky clearing. Suddenly the fire comes again and he starts to panic. The fire is burning him! He turns around, again and again, looking for help until his eyes fix on me.

_ “Help me,” _ he says before he’s swallowed by the flames.

******************************

Bathing in sweat, I wake up.

As I look at my clock I can see that it’s only 04:30 AM.

Sighing, I sink back into my pillows. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been having these kinds of weird dreams, only in the last few years, they’ve been getting stronger for some reason. Now, I can’t even go a week without getting one of these dreams. And all I ever dream about in these dreams are bad things.

I slowly start feeling sleepy again and not soon after I luckily fall into a dreamless sleep.


	18. Worries and plans

**Draco**

The days have been passing faster and faster. The First Task is getting closer every day and Ember is getting more and more anxious every day. 

Exactly a week before the First Task, I’m sitting in the Great Hall looking around as I catch a glimpse of Ember looking at Potter, a weird look on her face. It’s like she’s already mourning him or something.

As I see her leave I get up as well, walking just fast enough to exit the Hall at the moment she does. Seeing no one in the Entrance Hall, I grab her hand lightly and pull her into what we now call ‘our’ classroom. 

“What’s gotten into you?” I ask her, after I lock the door.

She sits down at the nearest table and sighs. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I saw you look at Potter as if he’s already dead.” At this, her head snaps up. “What’s that about?”

“Why would you care? I thought you hated Harry?”

I shrug. “I do, but you don’t. So why are you so afraid something’s going to happen? It’s not like he’ll get seriously injured or something.”  _ ‘Unfortunately,’ _ I add in my head, though I’m not saying it out loud. “Dumbledore won’t let that happen.”

“You never know,” she says softly. “You never know what will happen. For all you know he can burn up or something.”

She rests her head on her arms, not daring to look at me.

“What are you talking about? Burn up?”

“Can I- can I tell you a secret?” she asks slowly. 

I nod and go to sit next to her.

“You can  _ never _ tell it to anyone else, okay?” 

I nod again.

“Well, I’ve- I’ve got these dreams sometimes. And in those dreams I… see things. Things that haven’t happened yet. They are always bad things and, well, a few weeks ago I had this dream of what I think is one of the tasks, and I saw Harry d-die in an arena filled with fire. Since then I-I haven’t really been able to think of anything else.”

I think about this for some time. “And do these dreams usually come true?”

“Most of them have.” 

“So, what if you just go talk to Potter about this? Maybe it… helps him or something.” It’s even hard to say the word. It’s just harder to see her miserable.

She looks at me, her expression unreadable. “You really mean it, don’t you?” She surprises me by asking.

“I just don’t want to see you unhappy,” I say casually.

She smiles slightly at me before that smile vanishes again.

“Is something else the matter?”

“It’s just, between lessons, my homework, helping others with their homework; worrying about Harry; and arguing with Celeste, everything’s just becoming too much for me. And besides all that, I feel like I haven’t really been paying attention to you all that much either.”

She sighs again and buries her head in her arms.

I shake my head. “Don’t you worry about me for now,” I say, reaching out to squeeze her arm. “Tell me about Celeste. She’s still mad at you?”

“Yeah. She still thinks I’ve secretly been dating George. And it doesn’t help that George is too much of a pussy to ask her out. I never thought it could happen, but I think he’s afraid.” She snickers a bit.

“Are you sure he doesn’t really want to ask  _ you _ out?”

She looks offended. “Of course I do. Just because I didn’t know Michael liked me doesn’t mean I don’t know when other guys do. I can see how he looks when he looks at Celeste. Trust me, those two are perfect together, I just don’t know how to get him to act on his feelings.”

“Don’t ask me,” I immediately tell Ember before she can get any ideas. “I would have no idea.”

She smiles slightly before looking at her watch. When she sees what time it is she jumps up and quickly says, “we’ve gotta go if we don’t want to be too late for class.”

I smile slightly as she runs out of the room and up to her classroom, hoping that talking at least made her feel a bit better.

**Ember**

As I enter Arithmancy I already see Emily sitting on her own in front of the class. I’ve been avoiding most of my friends over the last few weeks so I have to push myself to go to her.

If I want this idea of mine to work, I need Emily’s help.

“Hey Emily,” I say slowly as I go to sit next to her.

She looks at me before saying, “So you still know who I am, I see. I was wondering if you’d totally forgotten about me.”

“I’d never do that,” I say quickly. “You’re my friend.”

“Well, you haven’t exactly acted like a friend these last few weeks, have you?” She says accusing.

I shake my head. “No, I haven’t. I didn’t want to have to talk to anyone, especially someone that’s close to me and Celeste.”

She looks at me, pity in her eyes. “You two still fighting?”

“She still thinks I’m in a relationship with George.” I feel the now familiar knot in my stomach as I talk about my best friend hating me.

“Is there something I can do to help?” Emily places a hand on my shoulder and I turn to her smiling.

“As a matter of fact, there is.”

I explain her my plan and while I’m talking I can see her smile grow wider.

“Sounds good,” she says when I finished explaining. “Let’s do it.”

*****************************************

Right before dinner, Emily gets Celeste so far to go with her on a ‘mission’. As soon as they’re gone I’m walking over to George.

“Do you still want to ask Celeste out?” I ask him immediately, not wasting any time with the usual greetings.

“Hey to you too,” he says. “I’m totally fine. Thank you for asking.”

I roll my eyes, a smile on my face. “So do you want to go out with her?”

He looks a bit awkward before nodding. “Yeah, I do.”

My smile grows broader. “Then you should come with me.”

I lead him to the place me and Emily have decided to meet, while our unsuspecting victims only know one part of what’s going on.

As we stop at the right place, George looks around. “Why are we outside again?” he asks me.

“Just wait and see,” I tell him smiling. We’re standing right outside the Covered Bridge. “I just hope they’ll be here soon.”

“Who?” George asks, but just when he asks, we see two figures emerging from the forest. As they come closer, we see that it’s Emily and Celeste.

“What are you doing here?” Celeste sneers, looking at me. My heart breaks just a bit more but I don’t give it any attention. If all goes as planned her hostility towards me will end soon enough.

“Everything ready?” I ask Emily.

“Yeah, and it’s gotten really beautiful if I may say so myself.”

Celeste looks at Emily, clearly shocked. “So when you said you wanted some help with creating some romantic place for some friends of yours, you were talking about  _ them _ ?!”

Emily smiles at her. “Not exactly.”

“Let’s walk, shall we.” I start walking in the direction they came from. Seeing as both George and Emily start following me, Celeste doesn’t see any other option but to follow us.

As we arrive at our destination, my mouth falls open. Emily and Celeste had found a small clearing and had decorated it to look even more cozy and welcoming than it already is. Near a roaring fire lies a blanket filled with the same food that will soon stand on the tables in the Great Hall.

“It really looks good you guys,” I tell them. I turn to George. “Will this do?”

He looks at me and I can just see his brains putting the puzzle pieces into place. He smiles broadly at me and nods.

I walk over to Emily and lock arms with her. “Well, you kids have fun and don’t stay out too late.”

We start walking back to school, leaving George and Celeste alone. Just before we’re too far away to hear anything, we hear Celeste squeal in delight as George asks her out on a date.

I look at Emily and we high five. “Mission accomplished.”


	19. Dragon training

**Ember**

Ever since George asked her on a date, things have been going better between me and Celeste. She finally believes me about me not dating George and she even apologized for ever thinking that. 

It took me a while but in the end, on Monday morning, I walk over to Harry and Hermione who seem to be in a heated discussion and ask them about the tournament and all they know about what the First Task is going to be.

Turns out, the First Task is dragons! 

As Harry tells me this, I immediately understand why I dreamt about rocky arenas full of fire.

“Do you have any idea what you have to do with dragons?” I ask him while taking a bite out of my toast. Luckily it’s still quite early, so not many people are about.

Both Harry and Hermione shake their heads. 

“All we know is that each champion gets their own dragon. But we don’t know what has to be done with them,” Hermione says.

I think as hard as I can about everything I know about dragons. More than once have I talked to Hagrid about them and Fred and George told me a bit about the dragons Charlie works with in Romania. 

“I don’t think they’ll tell you to fight them or anything. Their skin can’t be pierced by magic. They can’t be trained either, at least not on such short notice.” I think a moment longer and suddenly I remember that in my dream they seemed to grab something from the middle of the arena. Immediately, I know what the task is.

“I know this is going to sound weird, but I think I know what the First Task is.”

Harry and Hermione look at me wide-eyed. “How?” Hermione asks.

“That doesn’t matter now,” I say, waving the question away. “The thing is, I’m almost 100 percent sure you have to take something that the dragon is guarding.”

“How do you know that?” Harry asks suspiciously.

“Just trust me on this, okay,” I tell them both, before smiling. “Hey, did I ever purposefully tell you a lie?”

“No,” Harry says immediately, though Hermione looks uneasy. I send her a look before saying, “Then know I’m truly sure about this.”

I let this information sink in a little before asking, “so if you know this, what is your plan for getting around that dragon?”

Harry smiles sheepishly. “No clue.”

I have to withstand the urge to facepalm and Hermione looks about ready to do the same. 

“We’ve been looking through as many books as we could yesterday, but we haven’t been able to find anything.”

Why don’t you try talking to some of the professors?” I ask them. “They’ll probably know something you could do.”

“No,” Harry immediately says. “I have to do this myself.”

“Then what are Hermione and I doing here?” I tease.

Harry seems at a loss for words. “Well, that-that’s different.”

I laugh and wink at him. “Relax, sweetie, I’m just rattling your cage. Anyway, are there any other champions who know about this?”

“We’re pretty sure Fleur and Krum both know about it,” Hermione tells me. “As far as we know Cedric doesn’t.”

“So he’ll be the only one not knowing what the task is,” I deduct.

“Not if it’s up to me,” Harry says confidently. “It wouldn’t be fair if we keep him in the dark when I and the other champions do know what’s going to happen. I just need a good moment to tell him about it.”

“Then I suggest you do that quickly. You only have a limited amount of days before the First Task.” I think about this a moment longer. “You’d better find a way to tell him this morning, otherwise it won’t matter if you do or not anyway.”

In the meantime, more students have been walking into the Great Hall. As I see Draco walk in I catch his eye and smile, which he quickly returns.

Last Saturday, we were allowed to go to Hogsmeade and we were able to spend the whole day together, without anyone knowing about it. We’re still trying really hard to keep anyone from finding out about us. I wouldn’t know how my friends would react if they knew I went out with their sworn enemy, and the Slytherins would probably lose their mind if they found out about their golden boy dating someone like me.

I only snap out of my stream of thoughts when Harry jumps up.

“I have to go,” he says quickly.

Before he can leave I grab his arm. “Before you go, if there is  _ anything _ you need help with, even if it’s something as minor as extra books, just ask, okay? I want to help.”

He nods before walking away.

**************************************************

That same day during lunch, Harry and Hermione sit down on either side of me.

“Hey guys,” I greet them enthusiastically.

“You said I could ask you for help if I needed any right?” Harry immediately asks.

“Yeah, what do you need me to do?”

“Teach me how to do a Summoning Charm.”

**************************************************

It took a few hours, several books, and a lot of effort on mine and Harry’s side, but in the end, he really got the hanging of the Charm. 

Turns out, it’s 1 am when Harry finally starts to get the hang of it. At that point, we’d been practicing, basically, all afternoon and night. Harry and I even skipped some lessons so he didn’t have to stop practicing. Hermione had been staying with us too, giving a tip or two, but as she didn’t want to skip any classes it was mostly me helping Harry.

After we were chased out of the empty classroom we were practicing in, by Peeves, we decided to go to the Common Room, where Harry finally started to get the hang of the Summoning Charm.

“Good job,” I praise Harry as he successfully summons a rather thick dictionary. “It’s already going a lot better. I think we should just do it one more time before calling it quits.”

Harry hands the dictionary to Hermione who goes to stand on the other side of the Common Room. 

" _ Accio Dictionary," _ Harry says, and again, the dictionary comes flying towards him, landing right at his feet.

I smile at him. "That's enough for tonight. Tomorrow we'll go over this one more time, but now you need your beauty sleep or you'll be no good against the actual dragons tomorrow."

Harry seems almost reluctant to go to bed but I shoo him upstairs after which Hermione and I go up to our own dorms.

"Do you really think he'll be alright tomorrow?" Hermione asks me when we reach the top of the stairs.

"I don't know," I say truthfully. "But I have to believe he's ready for it. If he isn’t..." I shake my head. “We just have to trust the fact that he knows what he’s doing.”

With that, we both enter our bedrooms, both with our thoughts on the First Task.


	20. The first task

**Draco**

Finally, the day’s there, the day of the First Task.  _ The _ day the whole school gets to see Potter fail big time. I seriously can’t wait to see it happen. 

I’m sitting at the breakfast table with Crabbe and Goyle talking about it.

“What d’you think the First Task’s gonna be?” Crabbe asks while downing his fourth plate of toast with bacon and eggs. Seriously, is there no end to his eating?

“According to my father, it’s got something to do with some kind of animal, but he doesn’t know what kind,” I tell them. “It’s stupid how well kept of a secret it is at the Ministry. I mean seriously, it’s not like it matters whether we find out or not.”

“But you must have  _ some _ kind of idea what it is, don’t you?” Goyle asks, leaning towards me more, together with Crabbe. 

I smirk. “We’ll see soon enough what it is. I don’t really care as long as it’s gonna be very painful for Potter and Diggory.” 

We all laugh at this, even other kids at the table listening in.

This is going to be epic.

**Ember**

This is going to be awful.

I’ve just got a feeling that everything’s going to fall to pieces, even though we’ve been practicing like crazy yesterday. 

I just hope that everything will go the way it’s supposed to go. I still can’t believe the champions actually have to go against  _ dragons _ . I mean how stupid do you have to be to come up with the idea to let  _ teenagers _ outsmart a bloody dragon? Is it just me or does that sound like the most random and dangerous thing you can do?

Have you ever noticed that time has a funny way of ticking by when you dread something? It either goes by so slow you think the time just stopped, or it goes so fast that you think a few hours have just been skipped. Unfortunately, now is not one of the latter moments.

Time seems to be crawling forward and with every minute that passes, I get more anxious. Did I do everything I could to help? Was there anything else I could have done? What if my dream comes true? Will Harry survive?

“Ember, relax,” Celeste says at the beginning of lunch. “You’re driving yourself crazy, which is slowly driving me crazy as well.”

“Yeah,” George says from next to her. “And you’re killing a perfectly good sandwich.”

I look down to see my nails digging into my sandwich and as I put it down I can still see small dents where my fingers have been. 

I sigh. “I’m sorry, guys. I’m just-”

“Nervous, we know,” Richard says, looking up from his books. He’s slowly turning into just as big a bookworm as Hermione. “You just gotta let Harry live his own life, do his own thing. There’s nothing more you can do for him anyway. After this afternoon, the First Task will be over with and you’ll see that you’ve been worrying for nothing.”

“You see? Even Richie thinks you should relax.” Celeste points at the boy whose nose was already back in his book, but as he hears the nickname he looks up at her with a glare. 

“Don’t. Call. Me. That.” he says slowly, articulating every syllable clearly. 

From the corner of my eye, I suddenly see McGonagall approaching Harry before taking him out of the Great Hall. This is it. No way back now.

**************************************

After lunch everyone gathers in something that seems to be a rocky arena, looking just like the one in my dream.

I’m sitting on the bottom-most seats in between Fred and George. Celeste is sitting next to George together with Richard and Ginny. Nathan and Emily are sitting next to Fred, together with a stressed-out Hermione; and Ron, who isn’t showing any emotion. Still, I’ve got the feeling that he’s also nervous.

We’ve been sitting in complete silence, anticipating what’s going to happen, for a few minutes when, out of nowhere, a whistle sounds after which a loud voice interrupts our thoughts. It’s Mr. Bagman.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he says like a real showman. “Today is the day, the First Task is upon us!”

Cheers and shouts erupt from all around us.

“And here’s our first champion already, Cedric Diggory. He’s got to outsmart the notorious Swedish Short-Snout. Let’s see how he’ll do.”

Cedric starts out by trying to surprise the huge blue-grey dragon by just running straight for its nest, where a golden egg is lain in between real dragon eggs. Immediately it’s obvious what the champions have to get.

The dragon is quick to get in his path though and he has to jump out of the way to avoid being roasted to a crisp.

After this, he tries to Transfigure a stone into something. After a few tries, it eventually turns into a dog, resulting in the whole crowd Oh-ing and Ah-ing. The dog starts to distract the dragon while Cedric creeps closer to the nest. His trick seems to work but when he’s almost at the nest the dragon seems to get bored with the dog and turns back to him. I close my eyes just as it shoots a jet of fire at him.

Unable to watch what happens, I keep my eyes closed until I hear the crowd cheer and when I look down in the arena I see Cedric with the golden egg in his hands. He’d been hit by the fire the dragon shot at him, but he’s still standing there in the middle of the arena with a content smile on his face.

As the dragon is subdued, he quickly makes his way to the first-aid tent. Not soon after, his scores are revealed. He’s got 38 points in total.

In the meantime, the next dragon is brought into the arena with its eggs. I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for the rest of the Task. This’ll be a long day.

Fleur and Viktor follow after Cedric, though I don’t really pay attention to them. I vaguely register Fleur going up against a Welsh Green, making the dragon fall asleep to get to the egg, though this results in her dress catching fire. She gets 35 points. Viktor is next against a Chinese Fireball. He uses a Conjunctivitis Curse to blind it. This could have been a good idea, but the now blind dragon starts to blindly wander around, dangerously close to its eggs, even trampling a few of them. In the end, he does get the golden egg though, and he’s the first to get it without getting hurt himself. He gets 40 points.

“This is it,” I whisper to no one in particular. “It’s Harry’s turn.”

I hear multiple people gasp as the next dragon is brought in. It’s a Hungarian Horntail and is one of the, if not  _ the _ , most dangerous dragon species.

Poor Harry.

The whistle sounds for the last time and Harry walks into the arena. I look at Hermione sideways, just as she looks at me, and we share the same thought.

_ I just hope we’ve practiced enough. _

The whole stadium goes silent as Harry takes his position, and just like last night he holds up his wand and produces a Summoning Charm. After a moment or two, something comes flying towards him stopping right at his feet.

“His broom!” Fred cries out as he makes out what it is.

And indeed, it’s his Firebolt. As soon as it’s stopped at his feet, Harry jumps on it and takes off. He starts making all kinds of intricate moves, swerving and dodging the dragon’s flame, making it go crazy. I start to relax a bit when the dragon attacks again, only this time it doesn’t only use its fire but also its tail, which hits Harry in his shoulder. I hear multiple people scream and it takes a moment for me to realize that I’m one of those people. In the meantime, Harry is zigzagging in the air, right above the Horntail. It takes a moment for me to get what he’s trying to do.

“He tries to make it fly!”

As the dragon bellows, it stretches out its wings and goes to stand on its hind legs.

Now!

Harry dives to the ground as fast as he can and in no time he holds the egg in his hands, while he’s flying over the crowd.

I cheer together with the rest of the Houses. He made it! He’s still alive!


	21. A new deal

**Ember**

As soon as Harry’s inside the first aid tent, Ron gets up and starts to make his way over to it. I look over at Hermione and give her a knowing smile. Those two will be friends again in no time.

After this, I stand up and walk away from the arena. I’m not interested in the amount of points that Harry gets, I’m just happy he’s still alive.

A sigh escapes my mouth. It’s like a weight is lifted off my shoulders. Maybe not all my dreams have to come true after all.

“I told you he’d be just fine,” I hear a voice say from behind me.

I turn around to see Draco walking towards me, immediately a smile spreads on my face.

“Yeah, you did. I just had to see it for myself.”

“And now you’ve seen that he wasn’t hurt too bad.” I can’t help but notice the fact that Draco doesn’t seem too thrilled about this.

Together, we walk further towards the castle, while talking about the rest of the champions.

“I guess I was most surprised that Cedric did so great as he was the one to know about the dragons last,” I tell Draco. “Then again, he’s one of the best students here at Hogwarts.”

“You mean that they already knew about what they were up against?”

“Just the dragon part. The rest was still a mystery.”

“Unbelievable,” he mutters under his breath. 

“What?” I ask, not understanding.

“They actually found out quicker than I did.” 

I laugh at this and after a moment Draco starts laughing with me.

“Draco,” an icy voice suddenly sounds through the air, silencing us both. We turn around to see a man who looks like an older version of Draco, only slightly taller and with longer hair. I immediately recognise him as the man from a dream I had some time ago. I grab my locket, playing with it subconsciously.

“Father,” Draco says, the smile having left his face. “What are you doing here?”

“I have an appointment with Mister Crouch,” he tells his son before his gaze shifts to me. “Who is this?”

“I’m Ember,” I say, trying to stay polite while I’m freaking out internally. Unconsciously I look down at his feet, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, of course. “It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

“What House are you in?” he asks instead of returning my greeting.

“Slytherin,” Draco says before I can answer.

“And who are your parents?”

“Both-”

“Draco!” I exclaim before he can finish his sentence. “Don’t you lie to your father. He doesn’t deserve that.” 

“So what  _ is _ the truth?” Mister Malfoy asks me, giving his son the evil eye.

I turn to him, my hand still playing with my locket. For some reason, being around him makes me more nervous than it should. Draco wasn’t kidding when he said that his dad was intimidating. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know who my parents are, or whether they were magically gifted or not. I’ve been an orphan for as long as I can remember so I couldn’t even begin to answer your question. As for my House, I’m a Gryffindor, not a Slytherin.”

**Draco**

I try to stop Ember from saying something wrong, but she’s just too damn stubborn to listen. 

As soon as she admits to being a Gryffindor, Father’s whole demeanor changes. He stands up even more straight and glances down his nose at Ember as if she’s some kind of criminal. He looks her over critically but stops when he sees her hand play with her necklace.

“What’s that?” he snaps at her.

“What’s what?” she asks, not understanding what he’s talking about.

“That thing around your neck.”

“It’s called a locket,” she answers, getting slightly annoyed.

I try to warn her to watch herself but I don’t get the chance when Father snaps at her.

“Don’t try to be so clever. Where did you get that? Who did you steal it from?”

I don’t get why he’s suddenly so interested in a stupid old necklace. He’s never so quickly angered, so what’s different now?

Ember shakes her head, puffing up her chest. “I didn’t steal it from anyone. It’s the only thing I have that used to belong to my parents. Why do you care about it so much?”

Father’s face suddenly seems to drain of color as he drives a hand through his hair. Oddly enough, I’d swear I can hear him  _ mumbling _ ! My father is actually mumbling to himself over something as unimportant as some jewelry.

“Can I see it?” he asks, which is nothing like him. Why doesn’t he just take it as he usually does?

Ember looks sideways at me before taking it off and handing it to Father.

“I might have a hunch as to who your parents might be,” he says slowly as he examines the necklace. 

I sneak a look at Ember. If Father knows who her parents are, then there’s a big chance that this means that they were actually magical, not just Muggles like everyone thinks.

Ember looks at Father wide-eyed. “You mean to say that you knew my parents?”

“I do think so,” Father tells her. “But I would have to investigate it to be sure.”

“Would you?” Ember asks, a bit too quick.

I see a twinkle in Father’s eye as he looks from Ember to me and back again. “Let’s make a deal, shall we? In a few weeks, you will probably be told that a ball will be held during Christmas. I will find out who your parents are for you, if you agree to go to that ball with Draco. Do we have a deal?”

Dumbfounded, Ember looks from my Father to me. All I can do is stare at Father though. What’s this all about? What does he expect to gain from this?

When Ember doesn’t answer Father says, “I need an answer, girl. I don’t have all day.”

Shaking her head, Ember pulls her gaze from me to meet my Father’s.

“Deal.”


	22. Ball troubles and Christmas morning

**Ember**

Draco’s dad was right when he said we were going to have a ball during Christmas. 

Apparently, because of the Triwizard Tournament this year, there’s going to be a ball called the Yule Ball on Christmas Day. Only fourth-years and over are allowed to go, third-years and under aren’t allowed to come unless they are asked.

As soon as we were told that you could take a partner to the Ball some guys started asking me. Of course, I already agreed to go with Draco so I had to say no to all of them, letting them down as lightly as possible.

The thing is, ever since the Ball was announced I’ve been looking forward to it less and less, while the other girls all start to go crazy over it as Christmas starts to grow closer every day.

“Hey Ember,” someone startles me by saying.

I snap out of my daydream and look around to see Fred standing in front of me. I immediately smile at him.

“Hey Fred,” I say as I make room for him on the window seat where I’m sitting. “What’s up?”

“The ceiling?” he immediately says.

“Haha,” I say sarcastically. “I meant, how are you?”

He winks at me. “I know. Anyway, I’m fine. How’re you?”

“I’m just right.”

I see that he wants to say something, but it just doesn’t seem to come out.

“What do I owe the pleasure of your company for?” I ask him while smiling at him encouragingly.

This seems to help. “Do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?” he suddenly asks, catching me by surprise.

“Well...” I bite my lip. How to tell him no without hurting him, and our friendship along with it? “I actually already told someone else I’d go with him,” I say slowly. 

I can just see his face fall when I say this.

“I’m really sorry, Fred.”

“It’s okay,” he says, though he looks miserable. “I understand. The guy that is going with you really is a lucky guy.”

He quickly stands up and starts to leave when I grab his arm, making him turn around. 

“No hard feelings, right?” I ask him.

He produces a small smile. “No hard feelings.” With that, he leaves.

I sigh and go back to looking out of the window to the horizon where I’m sure I can see some snow clouds gathering. It’s going to be a white Christmas this year.

Looking outside, my mind starts wandering to the Yule Ball again and I can’t help dreading it. It just doesn’t feel good going when I’m basically forced to go with Draco. It doesn’t matter how much I like him. Something about it just feels wrong.

“Knut for your thoughts,” I hear someone say in a soft voice.

I have to bring myself to smile as I turn around to face the person.

“Hey Draco,” I greet him.

“Why do I feel like you’ve been avoiding me?” he immediately asks me, while he goes to sit next to me.

“I’m not-”

“Don’t lie to me, Ember,” he tells me, looking past me out of the window. “I know when I’m being lied to.” His gaze shifts to me. “What’s the matter?”

**Draco**

Ember sighs and looks at her hands.

“It’s just… your dad…”

I shake my head. “You don’t have to say anything else. It’s that deal you made with him, isn’t it?”

She nods her head almost invisibly. “Yeah, it just- it just doesn’t feel right somehow.”

This time, it’s me who sighs. “I tried to warn you.”

“Yeah, I just don’t like dishonesty and that brought us to this point.“

Saying this, Ember looks out of the window, clearly miserable. I look at her and make a decision.

“Ember,” I begin, clearing my throat. “I have to ask you an important question and I want you to answer it truthfully.” This piques her curiosity. I now have her full attention. I smile at her. “Ember, will you do me the honor of going to the Yule Ball with me?”

She seems at a loss for words.

“My father doesn’t have to know if you say no,” I say quickly. “This’ll stay between us. Your answer and its consequences stay with us alone.”

“You-you’re actually asking me if I  _ want _ to go with you, even if I already promised to go?” she asks.

“Well, yes. I want you to have fun yourself and I can’t see you having much fun the way you’re looking now.”

She seems to think about this. “Draco,” she says slowly, and I already know the answer. “I-”

I smile sadly at her. “Don’t say it, I already know.”

I start to walk away.

“No, Draco stop,” Ember calls after me, and as I turn around I see a big smile on her face. “Draco, I would  _ love _ to go with you to the Yule Ball.”

“Really?” I ask her, not believing that she’d actually go with me when I know that a lot of other guys have also asked her. 

“Yes, really.” She walks over to me and plants a kiss on my lips. “Of course I would go with you. All you had to do was ask yourself.”

Skipping, she walks away.

**Ember**

After Draco asked me to be his date for the Ball, I actually started to look forward to it. Funny how one small question can change so much. Christmas can’t arrive soon enough.

****************************************************

On Christmas morning, I’m woken up by a knock on the door leading to my dorm. I go to open it but it already flies open on its own to show Sandra, Hermione, and Ginny standing behind it.

“Happy Christmas!” they all greet me and my dormmates, their arms full with their unopened presents.

“Merry Christmas,” I say back as I allow them into the room. My dormmates start leaving, all but Celeste that is.

Quickly, all the presents are put on a pile in the middle of the room, and I put my presents, which are still on my bed, with the rest.

Two years ago, we started the tradition to gather in one of our dorms and open all our presents together.

“Okay, who’s first to grab a present?” I ask as we’re all settled around the pile.

“I think, this year, you should be the one to grab the first present,” Hermione says.

I smile at her before grabbing the first present. “This one’s for… Celeste.”

It takes about an hour to go through the entire pile but in the end only one present remains.

“The last one,” Ginny says, who just opened a present filled with all kinds of pranking equipment, courtesy of Fred and George. “It’s for… Ember.”

I look at her weirdly, as far as I know, I already unwrapped all my gifts. I got a bag of Muggle candy from the girls back home, some new quills from Hermione, special writing parchment from Ron, a new leather jacket from Ginny, different colored ink from Celeste and Nathan, new books from Harry and Richard; and a box of different kinds of wizarding candy from Fred and George. I hadn’t expected to get anything from Michael after he started ignoring me basically ever since the misunderstanding we had, but maybe he sent something to apologize. 

I take the present from Ginny and look at it. It’s a small box covered in beautiful deep red wrapping paper. As I take the wrapping paper off, I find a black box, like the ones you find at a jewelry store. I slowly open the lid to find the most amazing necklace I’ve ever seen.

It’s a golden lion with silver eyes and nails hanging from a silver necklace, the detail is remarkable and you can just see the love that’s been put in it.

“Wow,” is all I can say. Suddenly, I see a note lying next to the wrapping paper.

_ Happy Christmas, _ it says.

_ I hope you like this and that you’ll wear it tonight. _

_ I can’t wait to see how it looks on you. _

_ D _

That single letter is enough for me to know who sent this.

“What is it?” Sandra asks.

I show them the necklace trying to keep the note to myself, but of course, Celeste sees it.

“What’s  _ this _ ?” she asks as she pulls the note out of my hand and reads it out loud.

“So who’s this  _ D _ ?” Ginny asks, scooting closer to me. In fact, they all do.

I smile at them. “You’ll see tonight.”

They disagree at first but quickly settle down, making me promise to introduce my date to them as soon as the Ball starts.

I smile to myself.  _ ‘Oh, trust me, girls, you don’t need me to introduce him to you.’ _


	23. The Yule ball

**Ember**

After all the wrapping paper is cleaned up, the girls start to leave one by one, though promising to meet up before the Ball begins to dress together. In the end, only Celeste stays behind.

“Whoever your secret boyfriend is, he sure knows where to get his Christmas presents,” she says, holding my new necklace up to the light. “Hey,” she suddenly says. “I think there’s something engraved in this.”

I snatch the necklace away from her and look at the back myself.  _ ‘Even when we’re worlds apart, I’ll always be close.’ _

An even bigger smile spreads on my face, if that’s even possible.

“So, what does it say?” Celeste asks me.

I show it to her. As she reads it, a small sigh escapes her lips. “That’s really romantic. I wish George would be this romantic.”

I laugh. “No, you don’t. You would be bored out of your mind in no time.”

She starts laughing too. “I would, wouldn’t I?” She lightly takes the necklace from my hands and puts it around my neck. “There you go.”

I walk to the mirror that’s hanging from one of the walls and look at my reflection. The lion is hanging just above my breasts.

“It looks beautiful on you,” Celeste says from behind me.

“Thanks.”

I turn around and lightly start pushing her towards the door. “Now, what are you still doing here? Shouldn’t you wish your boyfriend a happy Christmas or something?”

She lets out a fake sob. “If you want to get rid of me then all you had to do is just say it.”

I laugh. “If you wanna stay, you’re welcome to stay, I just thought you wanted to get your first Christmas kiss with George, that’s all.”

Something flashes in her eye and she runs off, talking about seeing me later. I smile as I look after her. I knew she would say that.

Now I’m totally alone in my room, I walk back to the mirror watching as the small golden lion reflects the watery light of the sun.

I can’t help but smile at it. I can’t believe Draco actually bought this for me, it must’ve cost a fortune. 

I shake my head and go to take a brief shower before walking downstairs to the Great Hall, wearing a comfortable violet jumper and some tight-fitting jeans. My lion necklace glistens in the light of the flickering candles like a trophy, which, in a way, it is. 

“Hey, Ember,” I hear someone behind me call out. “Happy Christmas.”

I look over my shoulder to see Emily running towards me. “Hey Emily,” I greet the girl. “Happy Christmas.”

As she stops next to me, she holds out a package. “I meant to give this to you earlier, but I couldn’t find the right time to do it.”

“Thanks.” I take the package and open it to find a pair of earrings looking like the Gryffindor crest. 

“Oh my Merlin, Emily, they’re amazing!” I tell her as I hold them up to my eye to study them up close.

“You think so?” she asks. “I made them myself.”

“How did you get so much detail into something this small?” I ask, deeply impressed.

“You know how much I’m into creating jewelry, right? It takes some practice but after a few tries, I got it just right. And by the way, thanks for the new pencil set, I really needed new ones.”

“I know you did,” I say laughing. “You were complaining about your old ones the whole time.”

“Soooo...“ Emily says. “The Yule Ball is tonight…”

“If you’re asking me out, I’m afraid I have to decline,” I joke, knowing that’s not what she wants to know.

“Haha, Ember. I meant who are you going with?”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told the other girls. You’ve been waiting for some time now, you can wait a few hours longer. Anyway, who are you going with?”

All of a sudden, a devilish smile grows on her face. “I guess you’ll have to wait until tonight.”

I shrug. “Okay.” I turn around and start walking away, counting down in my head.

_ Three… _

_ Two… _

_ One… _

“Wait,” Emily calls out.  _ Right on time. _

I wait for her to catch up to me. “You’re not even curious about who I’m going with?”

“Nope,” I lie. “I get to see who it is tonight anyway so why would I go in a frenzy over it now?”

She huffs, but can’t seem to keep quiet. “Nathan asked me.”

“Really?” I ask, immediately feeling happy for her. As long as I’ve known her, she’d been having a crush on Nathan. “Congrats.”

“Thanks. Now you tell me who you’re going with.”

“Tonight,” I say before running away, Emily following close behind.

**************************************

We spend the majority of the day together, roaming the halls, and in the evening we engage in an intense snowball fight with the Weasleys, Muriks, and Harry, while Hermione is cheering us on.

Around five o’clock, Hermione signals for me and Celeste to come as it’s time to start preparing for the Ball. We meet up with Ginny and make our way to our dorms to put on our dresses. As soon as that’s all take care of, we meet up in my room to start the long process of putting on the right makeup and making sure our hair looks perfect.

Some people may think that needing three hours to get ready is a bit much but I can say from personal experience that three hours to make four girls look absolutely breathtaking is even a bit too little. Hermione has to leave a bit earlier to go find her date, Viktor Krum.

Soon after Ginny, Celeste, and I leave too, to find our own dates. George and Neville are waiting for their dates at the bottom of the stairs. 

“So, when are we going to see your date?” George asks me.

“You too?” I ask George, rolling my eyes.

He just winks at me.

“Just come on.”

I climb out of the portrait hole to come eye to eye with Draco. Immediately, a smile starts to spread on my face.

“Evening.”

**Draco**

“Evening,” I say, drinking in the sight of Ember. Her dress looks beautiful on her, her hair is put up, though still hanging down a bit in ringlets, giving her a very princessy look. The necklace I gave her hangs around her neck. “You look beautiful.”

She blushes. “Thank you. You don’t look too shabby yourself.”

I hold out my arm for her to take. She takes it just as her friends are crawling out of the portrait hole. 

“So who is-”

They all stand still and stare as they see Ember’s arm clutching mine and suddenly I feel very exposed.

“Malfoy,” the female Weasley growls. “What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” I ask her. “I’m picking up my girlfriend.”

All their eyes turn to Ember.

“What?” she asks them. “You wanted to know who my boyfriend was, and now you know, you’re not happy either.”

“You could choose from almost any boy in the school and you chose  _ him _ ?” the Murik girl asks.

“Yeah, I chose him,” Ember says, sounding slightly tired of the discussion already. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you. I knew you would react this way.”

The Murik girl sends me a look of dislike before sighing and smiling slightly at Ember. “I trust you, okay. If you think he’s who you want to be with then I’m behind your decision.” She turns to me. “Just know that I will curse you if you ever dare to hurt my best friend.”

I nod understanding before turning to Ember, smiling broadly. “Ready to go?”

“Let’s go,” she tells me with a big smile on her face as well.

We start walking down as her friends follow reluctantly. So far so good.

As we get down to the Entrance Hall, we get a lot of surprised glances left and right. I hadn’t expected it any other way. 

Suddenly, a girl runs over to us, the other Murik twin running after her.

“Hey, Ember,” she glances my way and nods, seemingly approving of me. “I guess I was right about you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told Ember that you could be boyfriend material if you tried.”

With that, she smiles at Ember and walks away, pulling Murik with her.

“Does that mean she’s okay with us being together?” I ask Ember.

She just smiles. “It means that she was already okay with it even before we were dating.”

“So that was every one of your friends right?” I ask, glad that it went over so smoothly.

“Not everyone,” Ember says as she looks towards another redhead coming our way.

“Hey, Fred.”

“Hey, Ember,” he greets her without taking his eyes off of me. “So this is your date for the Ball?”

“Yeah,” Ember says with a small voice, the happy smile has disappeared from her face.

“Well, have fun tonight,” he says before walking back to his date.

“That went well,” Ember says sarcastically.

“Hey, Malfoy,” I suddenly hear Goyle call out from behind me. Here we go, onto round two.

“So this is your mystery date,” Pansy sneers as she, Crabbe, and Goyle walk closer to us. She just  _ had _ to be with them, didn’t she?

I sigh and whisper, “here we go,” before we both turn around.

As soon as they see who I brought with me, they stand still and stare.

“Hey, guys,” Ember says, looking unfazed, I must say, I admire her courage. 

“ _ You,” _ Pansy sneers.

“Me,” Ember just replies, shrugging her shoulders.

Before they can say anything more, the doors to the Great Hall open up and we walk inside.

Sitting with my friends is clearly not an option and we don’t want to push Ember’s friends too hard, so we end up sitting with the only person who didn’t mind from the start, Ember’s friend Emily.

When everyone found a place to sit, the Champions and their dates are lead into the Hall towards a big table at the front of it. As they walk past, everyone begins clapping. I only clap halfheartedly. Once they are also seated, the Feast begins. The food isn’t as diverse and good as we would have at home during Christmas, but it’s good enough. 

As soon as everyone has finished eating, we are asked to stand up after which the tables are all moved to the side to create a dance floor. A stage is conjured and the Weird Sisters, an average wizarding band, are moving to their right positions one by one.

In the meantime, the Champions all take their spot on the dance floor, Potter looking totally lost which makes me smile.

They start dancing to a really depressing song. After a few moments of just plain torture for Potter, Ember turns to me. “Let’s dance.”

I pout. “But I’m just fine watching.”

She gives me a stern look and quickly I give in, leading her to the dance floor. As we start dancing, more and more couples join in and soon almost everyone is dancing.

When the song is over, I turn to walk away, but Ember pulls me back.

“Just one more song,” she begs, and reluctantly I give in.

******************************************************

In the end, we dance the whole night, but it was all worth it. I’ve never seen Ember smile so bright as she did the whole night. Around midnight, we leave the party and I walk her back to the Gryffindor Tower.

“I really enjoyed myself,” she tells me.

“Me too.” I push a stray hair behind her ear. “Coming out as a couple went better than I’d’ve expected.”

“Yeah, and it was totally worth it.” With that, Ember plants a kiss on my lips. “Goodnight,” she says softly as she climbs through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor Common Room.

“Goodnight,” I say as the portrait swings back in place, leaving me to dream about the Ball.


	24. Post-date jitters

**Ember**

As I walk into the common room, I almost run into the Weasley guys and Harry who seem to be waiting for me.

“Hey guys,” I say innocently. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” Ron asks. “Did you seriously go to the Ball with Malfoy?” 

“Why is it any of your concern who I went with?” I ask, crossing my arms, my happy mood over and done with.

“It isn’t,” Harry says. “ _ Unless _ it’s with Malfoy.” The other boys present nod their heads in agreement. 

“Seriously? So it doesn’t matter who my boyfriend is, as long as it’s not Draco, huh? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Exactly,” They all say.

“I can’t believe you actually went to the ball with that guy,” Fred says, sounding disgusted, which makes me feel worse than anything anyone could have said. 

“Well, believe it!” I say, getting defensive. “Because I did go with him to the ball, and he  _ is _ my boyfriend, and I don’t care what any of you think about that.”

Another wave of disapproval washes over the boys as I say this and now they start talking at the same time about why they think I’m such an idiot.

“Didn’t you hear me?” I ask, raising my voice to be heard above them. “I don’t care what you think of it. I like him, period. There’s nothing you can do to change that. Now if you’ll excuse me...”

I try walking up the stairs to the girls’ dorms but the boys block the way.

“Okay guys, if you don’t start moving it very soon I’m going to take House points from every single one of you.” As they don’t move, I start counting, my voice rising as the amount of points does. “Five points from each of you for doubting my better judgment.” 

As the boys don’t start moving, I up the stake as I start speaking louder. “Now it’s ten points from each of you.”

“Twenty points.”

“Fifty points from each of you,” I tell them.

“Leave her alone and come upstairs before you lose us even more points!” someone suddenly calls out from the bottom of the stairs leading to the boys’ dorms.

I look to see Nathan standing there, his arms crossed and a stern look on his face, only it’s not aimed at me but the boys.

“And what does it matter who Ember dates? It’s her life, not yours.”

I smile at him in relief, happy that at least one person is on my side. Grunting, Ron and George start walking up the stairs, though Fred and Harry remain standing.

“I’m not afraid of taking even more points from you,” I threaten. “Even if it means that I have to take all of Gryffindor’s House points.”

Huffing, Harry starts walking towards the boys’ dorms, leaving just Nathan, me, and Fred. 

“I can’t believe you chose him,” Fred grumbles before also making his way upstairs.

As all four boys are gone and out of earshot, I turn to Nathan, sighing, my shoulders dropping as my though act is dropped. “Thanks for helping me out.”

He sends a smile my way and walks over, giving me a hug. “It’s going to be okay. They’ll turn around. We both know that they can’t stay mad at you for long.”

“Thank you for not judging me,” I say softly, holding back my tears.

“Looking at what the boys were doing, you seem to have enough to worry about without me sticking my nose in your business.”

“What, exactly,  _ do _ you think about me being with Draco?”

Nathan shrugs. “I think that it’s none of my business what’s going on between you two. And besides, I’ve learned to trust your judgment, so if it tells you that you should be with Ma-Draco, then I support that.” He starts ushering me to the girls’ dorms. “Now it’s time for you to go to bed.”

“Yes, mom,” I say laughing. “But seriously, thank you for believing in me.”

With that, I make my way to my room, plopping down on my bed. I don’t even have enough time to take off my dress before I fall asleep.

**Draco**

As I get back to the Slytherin common room, I walk straight past Crabbe and Goyle who have fallen asleep on the emerald-colored couches. Unfortunately, I don’t have such luck when it comes to Blaise, who is waiting for me in our dorm.

“You never said you were dating a mudblood,” the dark-skinned boy sneers at me.

“I don’t see why that would interest you,” I tell him as I walk towards Raider, who’s currently sitting on my bed with an envelope in his talons.

“You dating a mudblood would make you a blood traitor and I don’t hang out with those.”

I just shrug as I take the envelope from Raider, it seems to be from Father. What would it be about? 

“I couldn’t care less about what you do or don’t do, Zabini,” I sneer as I open the envelope. Inside are another envelope, a letter, and Ember’s necklace. Looking at the other envelope, I see that it’s addressed to Ember. This must be a good sign. I quickly read the letter that was in the ‘main’ envelope, but as I’m reading it, I must be reading it wrong because what’s written here can never be true. I reread the letter multiple times, but it stays the same.

I turn to Blaise, the letter still in hand. “You might not be right after all, about me dating a mudblood.”

Externally I’m completely calm, but internally I’m freaking out. Ember’s going to freak when she finds out.


	25. Bad news

**Ember**

It’s taken some time, but the boys are finally talking to me without sneering. They seem to have accepted my decision, though something tells me that they still don’t like it very much. That was to be expected so I’m just happy that they’re not holding it against me.

I sigh as I focus on Professor Flitwick again. I’ve been having more nightmares lately and because of that, I can’t seem to focus on classwork as much as I should.

As someone knocks on the classroom door, everyone looks up to see Professor McGonagall standing in the door frame, a sad look in her eyes.

“Professor, could I borrow Miss Ember for a moment?” she asks, looking at the man. 

He smiles and nods. Professor McGonagall shifts her gaze at me. “Miss Ember, please grab your bag and follow me,” she says before walking out of the room. 

I quickly grab my bag and stuff my notes, quill, and ink bottle in it before walking after her. Something about the way she looks is causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.

“Did I do anything wrong, Professor?” I ask her, afraid of the reason she’d pull me out of class.

She sends me a small, sad smile. “No, Miss Ember, you did nothing wrong. Nothing at all.”

She starts leading me through the castle until we end up at the headmaster’s office.

“Professor, what’s going on?” I ask, turning towards her. “What are we doing here?”

She just keeps smiling that sad smile at me, giving me an uneasy feeling. “Professor Dumbledore will explain everything.”

She motions for me to go in, after having knocked on the door. 

I take a deep breath and walk into the office, seeing Dumbledore standing at his desk. “Ah, Miss Ember,” he greets me, smiling kindly. Why are they smiling at me like that? All it does is make me more nervous.

“Professor, what is wrong? Why am I here?”

Dumbledore motions for me to sit down in a chair opposite his desk. “Do you want anything? Tea? Something to snack on perhaps?”

“No, thank you,” I say, sitting down. “If it’s all the same to you, I would just like to know what is so important that I have to be pulled out of class for it.”

Dumbledore nods. “Of course, you do.”

He sits down heavily in the chair standing next to mine and looks me in the eye. “Miss Ember, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but word has reached us about the orphanage you used to live at.”

I swallow the lump growing in my throat. “What do you mean, ‘used to live’? You told me I could go back there after this school year.”

“That was certainly the plan.”

“Then what changed? Why can’t I go back all of a sudden?”

Dumbledore looks at me with pity in his eyes. “Sadly, the orphanage has burned down completely,” he says slowly.

My world seems to shatter into tiny pieces as I just stare at him. “Th-the girls… are they-”

Dumbledore shakes his head sadly. “Most of them died in the fire, as did Miss Cole.”

Tears are now streaming down my face. “How-how many did survive?”

“Only about a handful. I am truly sorry for your loss, Miss Ember.”

“How could this happen?”

“It isn’t known what caused the fire. It seemed to have started in Miss Cole’s office. How? The Muggle police can’t find out.”

“What do  _ you _ think happened?” I ask, knowing he must have some idea of what happened.

Dumbledore seems to think about what to say for a moment. “I am afraid that it is most likely that the fire was started with a very powerful Fire-Making spell.”

“Th-They’ve been killed by a wizard?”

“Or a witch,” Dumbledore says sadly. 

“But why? They’re not important in any way, except-” I look at Dumbledore. “Do you think it happened because of me?”

“I know it may be a lot to take in but it would explain why it is not clear what started the fire. Of course, it is completely understandable if you want to focus on something other than your classes-”

“No please, I want to go to class, no, I  _ need _ to go to class. Just… one more question. The girls, the ones that did make it, what happened to them?”

“Those girls have been taken to the Royal London Hospital and I have arranged for someone from the Ministry to also keep an eye on them. They are perfectly safe.”

“When can I see them?” I ask as I stand up. “I have to see them.”

“Miss Ember… most of them are still in critical conditions. To see them now… it just won’t be possible, but I assure you that we’re trying to make sure that you can visit them as soon as possible.”

I run a hand over my face as I sit down slowly again. “Thank you, Professor,” I say softly, still trying to grasp the fact that I just lost most of my family.

Dumbledore looks at the clock hanging from the wall. “If you don’t have any more questions, why don’t you go to the Great Hall as lunch break will start in not too long.”

As if in a daze, I stand up and grab my bag, thanking Dumbledore one more time before walking out of the office, passing McGonagall who looks at me, clearly pitying me.

I don’t pay attention to anything or anyone until someone suddenly grabs my arm out of nowhere and drags me towards an empty room.

“Ember, are you okay?” I hear a familiar voice ask as I’m suddenly trapped in a light hug which I return almost instantly.

“They’re dead, Draco. Someone killed my family.”

**Draco**

I freeze as I listen to her. Did she find out from someone else?

I can feel the letter from Father burning a hole in my pocket, as it’s been doing for the past few weeks.

“Wh-what do you mean?” I ask slowly, pulling away a bit to make her look me in the eye.

“The girls,” she sobs as she breaks down in tears. “Someone set fire to the orphanage and killed most of the girls as a result.”

My eyes grow wide as all I can think about is the letter Father sent. Is this what he meant by it?

“I’m so sorry, Ember,” I say, not having the heart to make her already awful mood worse. “I wished there was something I could do for you.”

She just buries her face in my chest and hugs me tightly, leaving me to wrap my arms around her as well, wanting to protect her from everything.

“Just promise me that you won’t leave me,” I can barely hear her whisper.

“Never.”


End file.
